Pumpkinseeds’ have gorgeous, vibrant colors, including orange, green and yellow stripes speckled with darker colors, and orange undersides. Female pumpkinseeds often have more vivid stripes. They have red crescent moons behind the black dots on their gills which help distinguish them from bluegills. Pumpkinseeds are freshwater fish that prefer warm, calm, clear water, especially in ponds, lakes and still pools in creek. They don’t venture far from the shore and tend to hide in vegetation and submerged objects. They tolerate low oxygen more easily than bluegills do, but they are more sensitive to warm water. Pumpkinseeds live in North America, from New Brunswick, Canada, south to Georgia in the United States, and westward to the upper Mississippi basin. They also have been introduced as a game fish throughout North America and many parts of Europe.