Banded Sunfish - Enneacanthus obesus
Life history and habitat requirements: The banded sunfish lives in calm, vegetated water of lakes, ponds and small rivers over a sand or mud bottom. They feed mostly on aquatic insect larvae, scuds, and other small crustaceans. The fish grow 2.0 to 3.8 inches in length and live up to four years. Spawning can occur from early spring into summer. The female lays eggs in a small, round nest built by the male. The nest may be used again for spawning once the earlier eggs have hatched.
(Source: Freshwater Fishes of the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland, & Delaware.)
Total Length: 2-3 inches (largest recorded in Massachusetts 4.25 inches)
Pollution tolerance (US EPA): unknown
Classification: Macrohabitat generalist
Number of fish found during 1954 & 2001 Fish Surveys:*
| Location | No. of Fish 1954 | No. of Fish 2001 |
| Assabet River | 4 | 3 |
| Danforth Brook | 1 | 1 |
| Hop Brook | 1 | 1 |
| Nagog Brook | 1 | 1 |
| Nashoba Brook | 10 | |
| Total | 15 | 6 |
*Sources:
DFW. 2001. Assabet Watershed Fish Survey. Mass. Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MassWildlife), Westborough, MA.
Schlotterbeck, L.C. and W.A. Tompkins. 1954. "A Fisheries Investigation of the Merrimack and Ipswich River Drainages." Bureau of Wildlife Research and Management, Mass. Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, Westborough, MA.
