Article text: Wikipedia contributors, Bluebarred pygmy sunfish (source revision). Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
Bluebarred Pygmy Sunfish
Elassoma okatie
Elassomatidae · freshwater water fish
2 minute read · Species guide

About Bluebarred Pygmy Sunfish
The bluebarred pygmy sunfish, Elassoma okatie, is a species of pygmy sunfish endemic to South Carolina, United States. It prefers waters with dense vegetation growth in the Edisto and Savannah River drainages. This species can reach 3.4 cm (1.3 in) in total length.
Diet and feeding
The FishTraits compilation records these diet categories for this species: invertebrates or larval fish. These are broad categories, not a claim that every individual consumes every example in a category.
Reported feeding positions include bottom feeding and surface or water-column feeding. The compilation combines published observations; diets can vary with age, locality, and available food.
Habitat preferences
Reported habitat associations include streams and small rivers, creeks, still-water habitats.
The source records associations with muck, clay or silt, sand, bedrock, vegetation. An association indicates reported use, rather than an exclusive requirement.
Reproduction and parental care
The compilation reports a representative maturity age of 1 years. Its maturity field summarizes mean, median, or modal estimates, usually for females; male estimates can be used when female data are unavailable. It is not a fixed age at which every fish first breeds.
Recorded spawning months are Feb, Mar for the source’s reporting region (GA). This is a regional calendar, not a range-wide schedule.
The reproductive-guild classification includes guarding eggs or young at a spawning substrate or nest.
Size and recorded longevity
FishTraits reports a maximum total length of 3 centimetres. Some entries use an estimated asymptotic length; this value should not be treated as a certified record catch.
Recorded longevity in the compilation is 1.5 years. Wild observations were preferred, but captive records were accepted where wild records were unavailable, and unspecified records were assumed wild. The value is not a guaranteed wild lifespan or an aquarium life expectancy.
Range
Where it lives
Share of records by state
Habitat
Water and movement
- Water
- WoRMS records this species in fresh water.
- Migration
- Not migratory
Classification
Taxonomy
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Superclass
- Actinopterygii
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Perciformes
- Family
- Elassomatidae
- Genus
- Elassoma
- Species
- Elassoma okatie
- ITIS TSN
- 168173
- WoRMS AphiaID
- 1011682
- GBIF key
- 2380532
Common questions about Bluebarred Pygmy Sunfish
What is the scientific name of Bluebarred Pygmy Sunfish?
Does Bluebarred Pygmy Sunfish live in fresh water or salt water?
Where has Bluebarred Pygmy Sunfish been recorded in the United States?
Closest relatives
Other Elassoma species
Same family