Warmouth

The warmouth (Lepomis gulosus) is a species of freshwater fish. It is a member of the sunfish family (family Centrarchidae) of order Perciformes. It is native to a wide area of the United States, from Minnesota to western Pennsylvania in the north and from the Rio Grande in New Mexico east to the Atlantic in the south, inhabiting the heavily vegetated, muddy-bottomed habitats typical of the sunfishes.

The warmouth’s classification is disputed. Cuvier, in 1829, originally described it as a member of the obsolete genus Pomotis, and it was reclassified much later as a member of Chaenobryttus Gill, 1864, on the basis of genetic evidence. ITIS retains this classification, with the warmouth the only member of that genus. FishBase, however, follows the majority of the sources in considering the warmouth to be a member of Lepomis, Chaenobryttus being a subgenus thereof.

The warmouth’s specific epithet, gulosus, derives from the Latin gulōsus (gluttonous). The origin of the common name “warmouth” is due to the stripes around the mouth of the fish bearing a resemblance to warpaint.