Largemouth bass
| Largemouth Bass | |
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| Species: | M. salmoides
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| Micropterus salmoides | |
The largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) is a species of freshwater fish in the sunfish family (Centrarchidae) of order Perciformes. One of the black basses, it is native to a wide area east of the Rocky Mountains in North America, encompassing the Mississippi River basin, the Saint Lawrence River–Great Lakes system, and up into the Hudson Bay basin, as well as down into Florida, Texas, and northeastern Mexico.
The largemouth bass is marked by a series of dark blotches forming a ragged horizontal stripe along the length of each side ("lateral lines"). The lateral lines are used by a largemouth bass as motion detectors to locate prey or avoid being prey at night or in other dark water conditions. The upper jaw of a largemouth bass extends beyond the back of the eye. The largest of the black basses, it has reached a maximum recorded overall length of 97 cm (38 in), and a maximum recorded weight of 10 kg (22 lb). It can live as long as 23 years.
M. salmoides prefers a habitat of warm, calm, clear water and is usually found in slow-moving streams, ponds, lakes, and reservoirs. A predatory fish, the largemouth bass eats other fish, frogs, crayfish, even small ducklings—any animals it can swallow. It is reported to be cannibalistic. The young feed primarily on smaller crustaceans and fish, as well as insects.
Females can lay up to a million eggs during each spawning.
This species is highly sought after for recreational fishing for three reasons: First, even in its original range it was widely distributed (it has now been transplanted almost everywhere in the United States). Secondly, it is one of the easiest gamefish to catch, as it will strike at almost anything, anytime. Lastly, it can put up a very respectable fight when hooked, though it is - pound for pound - bested by its smaller relative the smallmouth bass in that regard. It can be a good eating fish, but it has a distinct flavor of its own. Because it is the most popular game fish in America, bass fishing supports a multi-billion dollar per year industry. It has been very widely introduced for this purpose throughout the world, and is now considered cosmopolitan. In some counties, its introduction has damaged ecosystems and harmed native species, and IUCN considers it one of the world's 100 worst invasive species.
The officially recognized heaviest bass on record was caught by George Perry at Montgomery Lake in Telfair County, Georgia, on June 2, 1932, and it weighed 22.25 lb (10.1 kg). This was surpassed in March 2006 when Mac Weakley, of Carlsbad, California, pulled a 25-pound, 1-ounce largemouth bass into his fishing boat. [1] However, because the weight of the fish was recorded on a hand scale, and because of irregularities with the hooking of the bass, the record is not officially reognized by the IGFA. [2]
The largemouth bass is the state fish of Georgia and Mississippi.
The largemouth bass is also known as the Oswego bass.
References
- FishBase: Micropterus salmoides
- ITIS: Micropterus salmoides
- Byerly, Tracy. "Micropterus salmoides: Information". Animal Diversity Web. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, 2000.
- "Ecology of Microptera salmoides". Global Invasive Species Database. Updated 22 September 2004.
- Rohde, F. C., et al. Freshwater Fishes of the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1994.
- "World Record Bass - maybe - pulled from Lake Dixon" San Diego Union-Tribune, March 20, 2006
- "Bass fisherman decides not to submit papers for record" San Diego Union-Tribune, March 22, 2006