Largemouth bass

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Largemouth Bass
Conservation status
Data deficient
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Actinopterygii Order: Perciformes Family: Centrarchidae Genus: Micropterus Species: M. salmoides
Binomial name
Micropterus salmoides

The Largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) is a species of fish. Also known as Black Bass, Green Trout, Bigmouth Bass, and Lineside Bass.^[1] The largemouth bass is in fact, not a bass. It is not a member of the bass family, but it is a member of the Sunfish family.

Contents 1 Physical Description 2 Food Source 3 Reproduction 4 Interaction with humans 5 Senses 6 References

[edit] Physical Description

The largemouth bass is marked by a series of dark blotches forming a ragged horizontal stripe along the length of each side. It can also be totally black. The upper jaw of a largemouth bass extends beyond the back of the eye. The average largemouth bass weighs 1 to 3 pounds and between 8 and 18 inches long. 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 22 lb, 4 oz (10 kg, 113 g). It can live as long as 23 years, and, along with the black crappie, is also known as the Oswego bass.

[edit] Food Source

The largemouth bass has a wide variety of prey. Its diet consists of worms, grubs, baitfish, frogs, snakes, crawfish, and insects. It will eat all types of colors and sizes of these animals. The largemouth bass will wait in grass, brush, laydowns, drop-offs to ambush its prey. Then, it will swallow it whole and digest it.

[edit] Reproduction

Largemouth usually spawn in shallow bays in the spring when the water temperatures reach about 60° F. Females can lay up to a million eggs during each spawn in a shallow depression in the ground formed by the male. The male will then guard the eggs and, after they hatch in five to ten days, the fry, driving away any predators that come too close to the nest site.

[edit] Interaction with humans

Largemouth put up a very respectable fight for the sport fisherman, though many say their cousin species the smallmouth bass can best them pound for pound. Largemouth, though preyed upon by larger animals or other fish when young, usually occupy the apex predator niche when older, which dignifies them with a level of sporting prestige as quarry. Largemouth are usually fished for with lures such as the plastic worm, and it is common amongst anglers to release them alive. Largemouth respond well to catch and release because of their hardiness, and the ability of their large mouth to withstand repeated hook injuries without compromising their ability to feed or damaging their gills.

The IGFA's officially recognized heaviest largemouth bass on record was caught by George Perry at Montgomery Lake in Telfair County, Georgia, on June 2, 1932, and it weighed 22 lb. 4 oz. (10.1 kg). This was surpassed in March 2006 when Mac Weakley, of Carlsbad, California, pulled a 25 lb. 1 oz. largemouth bass into his fishing boat. [1] However, the bass was not hooked in the mouth, was weighed on an uncertified hand-held digital scale, and then released. This created a dispute about whether the bass should be counted as a record. This dispute was ended when Weakley decided not to enter the fish as a world record.[2]

The largemouth bass is the state fish of Alabama^[2] Georgia and Mississippi.

[edit] Senses

Lateral Line: The Lateral Line is a series of pores located alongside the bass. This set of pores is used to detect vibrations in the water. This is sensitive enough to detect the speed, size, and shape of another fish.

Sight: Largemouth bass have color vision and they mostly use their sight in clear water. However, in low visibility conditions bass do not use their sight as much as their sense of vibration though their lateral line or their sense of smell. Depending on water clarity, largemouth bass can see anywhere from 100 feet to 5 feet.

Hearing: Bass have ears located inside of their skull. However, because sound travels through water much better than air a bass has a very keen sense of hearing.

Smell: Bass use smell to detect prey or predators. Their smell is very sensitive and if they smell a predator nearby they will swim away from the area.

[edit] References