 Globally, however, its population is stable and is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.The banded sunfish was first formally described as "Pomotis obesus" in 1854 by the French ichthyologist Charles Frédéric Girard (1822-1895) with the type locality given as Framingham and in a branch of the Charles River, at Holliston, Massachusetts.The generic name "Enneacanthus" means "nine-spined" while the specific name "obseus" means "fat".