Sunfish & Crappie

Bluegill Sunfish

There is scarcely a body of water in the state that does not have Bluegills in it. Bluegills get to a foot long, but are seldom seen at that size.

All sunfishes are aggressive and territorial. Their belligerence is heightened in the confines of an aquarium, where you may start out with several small ones, but you will end up with just one big one. A sunfish will tear a fish-store cichlid to pieces. They adapt readily to regular fish food, but lose most of the attractive wild colors.

-- Wikipedia


Pumpkinseed Sunfish

The Pumpkinseed is the second most common type of sunfish

-- Wikipedia


Redbreast Sunfish

note the long 'ear'

Redbreasts can be found in the D&R Canal.

-- Wikipedia


Black Crappie

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Black-Crappie-Duane-Raver.jpg

Crappies are fun to fish for - seems they'll hit just about anything. They also do well in an aquarium, where they are not aggressive towards anything they do not regard as food. They do require live food like minnows, although eventually you can train most individuals to take freeze-dried krill and worms.

-- Wikipedia


Clinging jellyfish are shown swimming in a jar in 2016. The small jellies can pack a dangerously powerful sting. Tanya Breen/staff Photographer

Amanda Oglesby
Asbury Park Press
June 19, 2026

BRICK - A surge of clinging jellyfish are infiltrating the Metedeconk River, where a 6-year old child has already suffered a severe string, said New Jersey's leading expert on jellyfish.

Paul Bologna, the director of Montclair University's Marine Biology and Coastal Sciences Program, said the river's north bank has "a huge number of these clinging jellies." These coin-sized translucent jellyfish cling to sea lettuce and filamentous red algae common in the Jersey Shore's coastal rivers and estuaries, he said.

"Their tentacles have special adhesive pads that ... suction cup themselves onto that stuff," Bologna said.

Despite their small size, the clinging jellyfish pack a dangerously powerful sting, one that can lead to days-long hospitalizations, the biologist said.