Life in the Lake
Black Crappie, Calico Bass
(Pomoxis Nigromaculatus)
Description
Crappie is a member of the sunfish family
Centrarchidae, which includes many species
of spiny-finned, freshwater fishes with deep,
flattened bodies found throughout North
America.
Crappies are the largest of the sunfishes,
reaching lengths of up to 30 cm/1 ft or more.
There are two species, the white crappie
(Pomoxis annularis) and the black crappie
(Pomoxis nigromaculatus), though only
black crappie are found in Lago de Atitlàn.
The black crappie has a rounded body with a
greenish back and silvery sides with mottled
black markings. It is this mottled pattern
that gives the black crappie its other com-
mon name: calico bass. Life span for
this species is about seven years.
Habitat and life cycle
Black crappie is a schooling fish
and lives in temperate ponds, lakes,
streams, and resevoirs.
Black crappie prefer
fertile lakes with firm
bottoms and lots of
plants and underwa-
ter structures like
logs, stumps
and rocks.
By day, crappie tend to be less active and to
concentrate around weed beds or submerged
objects. They feed especially at dawn and
dusk, moving into open water or approaching
the shore. Adults feed mainly on smaller fish
(including the young of their own predators),
insects, crayfish and tadpoles. Young fish eat
zooplankton (microscopic animals and other
organisms including water fleas, mosquito
larvae, paramecia, amoebas, etc.) and grow
5–7 cm/2–3 in. their first year. Black crappie
are preyed on by any larger fishes, as well as
by herons and turtles.
Due to the species’ great range, breeding
season varies by location, but breeding
temperature is from 14–20 °C (58–68 °F).
Crappie are sexually mature after 2–3 years.
Black crappie spawn in the same way as blue-
gill and other members of the sunfish family:
males first sweep out a nest in sand or gravel
in water 1–2 m/3–8 ft deep. Females then lay
up to 60 000 eggs in the nests before leav-
ing the males to guard the eggs, which hatch
after about a week. The newly hatched fish
stay in the nest a few days while they develop
a functional mouth, then move into the water
column. Males stay with the young until they
are able to start feeding.
The crappie’s common name (also
spelled croppie or crappé), derives
from the Canadian French “crapet.”
 Life in the Lake
Bluegill sunfish, Bream
(Lepomis macrochirus)
Description
Bluegill, also commonly referred to as bream,
is a member of the sunfish family (family
Centrarchidae). It is a deep, flat-sided fish
with a small mouth and long pectoral fins.
Colouration varies, but the opercular flap
(ear flap), an extension of the gill cover, is
always blue-black and bluegills have a black
spot near the back of the dorsal fin. Bluegill
also have darker vertical bars along the sides
of the body, though these are not always
pronounced. The name comes from the bright
blue edging on the gill rakers.
Bluegill grow to a maximum length of
approximately 40 cm/16 in. Specimens in the
lake frequently reach 15–20 cm/7–10 in.
Habitat and life cycle
Bluegill’s preferred habitat is clear,
temperate lakes with some rooted vegetation.
This fish is native to a wide area of North
America, from Quebec to northern Mexico,
and has been widely introduced to stock
game fish for anglers. Bluegill was introduced
to Lago de Atitlàn along with the black bass
in 1958 as a food source for the bass.
The bluegill’s natural diet consists largely
of small invertebrates and very small fish.
Young bluegill mainly eat zooplankton or
microscopic animals. Adults feed mainly on
aquatic insects.
Bluegill is a schooling fish, with schools of
20–30 individuals. They are nest spawners
and typically build nests in large groups.
Males choose an area in shallow water (less
than 1 metre/4 feet deep) and sweep out
a saucer shaped nest with their tails. The
females then lay 10 000–60 000 eggs in
the nests, which are guarded by the males.
The eggs usually hatch in about five days.
During the nesting period males assume a
very bold colouration. Some males assume
the colouration of the female fish so that the
males guarding the nests won’t be aggressive
towards them, allowing the “sneaker” males
to enter nests and spawn.
The cities of San Francisco, New York
and Washington have used bluegills
for monitoring their water supply
for toxins like pesticides, mercury,
cyanide, heavy metals, fuel spills
and phosphates.
Fish cough by flexing their gills
to expel unwelcome particles, like
grains of sand or chemical residues,
from their breathing surfaces; this
flexing creates tiny vibrations in
the water. Instruments in the water
supply “listen” for these vibrations
and note any unusual amounts of
coughing coming from the fish.
 Life in the Lake
Convict cichlid, Zebra cichlid
(Cryptoheros nigrofasciatus, formerly
Archocentrus nigrofasciatus)
Description
The convict cichlid is one of few native fishes
left in Lago de Atitlàn. It is a moderately elon-
gated, laterally compressed fish with an oval
body shape. The body is white to blue grey,
with a grey head and eight or nine dark verti-
cal bars across the body. The belly may have
orange or pink scales.
Males grow to 15 cm/6 in, females to 12 cm/
5 in. Males generally have longer, more flow-
ing dorsal and anal fins, a steeper forehead
and sometimes a head hump. Females have
a rounder belly profile and are usually more
colourful, especially during spawning season,
when they develop a yellow-orange belly to
attract their young.
Habitat and life cycle
The convict cichlid is found within
Central America from Lake Atitlàn
and Lake Amatitlan in Guatemala
south to lakes in El Salvador, Costa
Rica and Panama.
Central America’s
rocky lake habitat,
formed by volcanic
craters, provides
deep, steep, rocky
sides and hard,
alkaline water.
The convict cichlid stays close to cover like
roots, rocks and overhanging banks. Like
most Central American cichlids, it is very
territorial and aggressive. It is omnivorous,
feeding on worms, crustaceans, insects, fish
and plant matter.
Males and females form strong pair bonds,
pairing off after a mating dance. Both
parents dig a pit in the gravel around their
chosen nest site, which is usually a small
cave or grotto. Spawns range from 50–100
eggs for fish less than a year old while older
pairs may lay 300 eggs or more. Once fertil-
ized, eggs are guarded by both parents.
Females fan oxygenated water over them
while males patrol the outskirts of the
territory, chasing away intruders.
The eggs hatch in about 3 days. The wriggling
larvae may be moved by the parents to vari-
ous pits dug in the lake bottom. A week later,
the fry are free-swimming, but parents care
for them for another 3-4 weeks. Convict
cichlids are tireless parents, frequently
exhibiting the following behaviours:
Guarding: Both parents guard the fry, with
the female staying closer to the fry while the
male patrols the perimeter.
Fry retrieval and cleaning: If a fry strays
too far from the group, a parent will swim
to it, take the fry in its mouth and return it
to the school. Parents also clean fry by tak-
ing them in their mouths and “chewing” a bit
before spitting them back out.
Fin-digging and leaf-turning: Parents stir
up food for the fry by wriggling in the gravel.
They also turn over leaf litter on the bottom
to expose invertebrate food items living on
the undersides.
Because the convict cichlid is very
hardy, thrives in almost any water
conditions, is easy to breed in
captivity and exhibits remarkable
parental behaviour, it is one of the
most popular cichlids for aquarium
hobbyists.
 Life in the Lake
Black bass, Largemouth bass
(Micropterus salmoides)
Description
The name “black bass” is collectively used for
three species of bass: the largemouth, small-
mouth and spotted bass. Lago de Atitlàn’s
black bass is the largemouth bass, Microp-
terus salmoides. The largest member of the
sunfish family Centrarchidae, it is bronze to
green with dark blotches forming a stripe
along the sides of the body. Because the
upper jaw extends behind the eye, its mouth
is relatively large, as the name suggests.
Black bass typically reach sexual maturity
at about 25 cm/10 in length, which can be as
soon as one year. In two years, the bass have
attained record size, with an average weight
of 4kg/9lbs.
Habitat and life cycle
Black bass survives well in almost any clear-
water environment. Its original distribution
covered most of the U.S and Canada east of
the Rocky Mountains, but the species has
been introduced into most of Mexico and
Central and South America, as well as a wide
area of Europe.
The black bass spends most of its time in its
home range, a small, concealed area of deep
cover near logs, docks, underwater ridges,
submerged brush and rocks, quietly waiting
for food to come its way.
Black bass has a voracious appetite and will
feed on anything that moves, swallowing its
prey whole. In its native range, it is such a
fierce predator that it has caught and killed
birds such as swallows, warblers and red-
winged blackbirds as they fly near the
surface of the water. Starting at about 5 cm/
2 in. length, they begin to prey on smaller
fish, frogs, snails, worms, insects, crayfish,
crabs, lizards and young birds. In their na-
tive range, they contribute to the overall
health of the ecosystem by keeping bluegill
and other fish populations under control.
Introduced to Lago de Atitlàn in 1958, the
bass have eliminated many other species of
fish from the lake, and have almost certainly
played a role in the disappearance of the
giant grebe, an endemic species now extinct.
During spawning season, the male selects a
sunny spot in quiet shallows up to 2 m/8 ft
deep, courts a female, and persuades her to
deposit eggs in his nest. Each female lays up
to 40 000 eggs; once the male has fertilized
the eggs, he guards them until they hatch
5–10 days later. Once hatched, the young
begin feeding on plankton and insect larvae.
In many parts of the United States,
black bass is the most popular game
fish; an estimated 26 million Ameri-
cans fish for this species. The meat
is light, flaky and tasty, with low
oil content.