Specks of orange, yellow, blue, and emerald are found on the sides of this fish. Also found on a pumpkinseed s sides are seven or eight vertical bands. Found running down the side of a pumpkinseed are brightly colored, narrow, curvy lines. One characteristic that is noticeably different on a pumpkinseed is the spiny-ray dorsal fin. This fin has 10 or 11 spines and the rear of it has 10 to 12 rays.
Pumpkinseeds are common in lakes and ponds and tend to become overpopulated.
This causes pumpkinseeds to stop growing, which leads to stunted growth in their species. Pumpkinseeds very rarely ever grow over 8 inches. Although, pumpkinseeds share many of the same physical features of the sunfish family, there are a few noticeable differences. Black and white crappies, largemouth and smallmouth bass are all in the sunfish family, but they all tend to have dull coloration. Bluegills, which are very similar to pumpkinseeds.