The spotted bass (''Micropterus punctulatus''), also called spotty, or spots in various fishing communities, is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

freshwater fish Freshwater fish are fish species that spend some or all of their lives in bodies of fresh water such as rivers, lakes, ponds and inland wetlands, where the salinity is less than 1.05%. These environments differ from marine habitats in many wa ...

belonging to the sunfish

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

(

Centrarchidae Centrarchidae, better known as sunfishes or centrarchids, is a family of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the order Centrarchiformes, native only to North America. There are eight universally included genera within the centrarchid famil ...

) of the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

Centrarchiformes Centrarchiformes is an order of ray-finned fish, previously included amongst the perciformes. Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. (2023). FishBase. Centrarchiformes. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies. ...

. It is noted for the rows of dark spots below the lateral line, which give it its common name. One of the

black bass Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''Psy ...

es, it is native to the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

basin and across the Gulf states, from central

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

through the

Florida panhandle The Florida panhandle (also known as West Florida and Northwest Florida) is the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Florida. It is a Salient (geography), salient roughly long, bordered by Alabama on the west and north, Georgia (U.S. state ...

. Its native range extends into the western

Mid-Atlantic states The Mid-Atlantic is a region of the United States located in the overlap between the nation's Northeastern and Southeastern states. Traditional definitions include seven U.S. states: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virg ...

and it has been introduced into western

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

. It has also been introduced to

southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...

, where it has become established in some isolated waters as an

invasive species An invasive species is an introduced species that harms its new environment. Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native spec ...

. Spotted bass can reach an overall length of almost , and can weigh up to . It can live to an age of at least seven years. Preferring cool and warm mountain

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...

s and

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

s with rocky bottoms, the spotted bass feeds on

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

crustacean Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthrop ...

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...

annelid The annelids (), also known as the segmented worms, are animals that comprise the phylum Annelida (; ). The phylum contains over 22,000 extant species, including ragworms, earthworms, and leeches. The species exist in and have adapted to vario ...

worms and smaller fish. It is often mistaken for the similar and more common

largemouth bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus nigricans'') is a carnivorous, freshwater fish, freshwater, ray-finned fish in the Centrarchidae (sunfish) family, native to the eastern United States, eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada an ...

. A convenient way to distinguish between a largemouth and a spotted bass is by the size of the mouth. A spotted bass will resemble a largemouth bass in coloration but will have a smaller mouth. In 2010, the scientific community officially recognized a separate

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

of spotted bass, native to the Tallapoosa and

Coosa River The Coosa River is a tributary of the Alabama River in the U.S. states of Alabama and Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The river is about long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, ac ...

s and their

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

s. This species is commonly known as the Alabama spotted bass (''M. henshalli'') and known locally as the "Coosa spotted bass", not to be confused with the redeye Coosa bass found in

north Georgia North Georgia is the northern hilly/mountainous region in the U.S. state of Georgia. At the time of the arrival of settlers from Europe, it was inhabited largely by the Cherokee. The counties of north Georgia were often scenes of important eve ...

. The Alabama spotted bass is highly prized as a

gamefish Game fish, sport fish or quarry refer to popular fish species pursued by recreational fishers (typically anglers), and can be freshwater or saltwater fish. Game fish can be eaten after being caught, preserved as taxidermy (though rare), or ...

and average size is much larger than the more common Kentucky spotted bass. The current record spotted bass, caught in

Pine Flat Lake Pine Flat Lake is an artificial lake or reservoir in the Sierra Nevada foothills of eastern Fresno County, California on the western north-south border to the Sierra- and Sequoia National Forests, about east of Fresno. The lake is managed by the ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, weighed .

Etymology

''Micropterus'' means small fin, and ''punctulatus'' means dotted.

Description

Many

angler Angler may refer to: * A fisherman who uses the fishing technique of angling * Angler (video game), ''Angler'' (video game) * Angler (restaurant), a seafood restaurant in San Francisco, California * The angler, ''Lophius piscatorius'', a monkfish ...

s who catch a spotted bass mistake it for a

due to the coloration, although there are subtle differences. The spotted bass, like all

es except the largemouth, has scales on the base portion of the second

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates. Dorsal fins have evolved independently several times through convergent evolution adapting to marine environments, so the fins are not all homologous. They are found ...

, its first and second dorsal fin are clearly connected, and its upper jaw bone does not extend back to or beyond the rear edge of the eyes. The spotted bass is also often confused with a

smallmouth bass The smallmouth bass (''Micropterus dolomieu'') is a species of freshwater fish in the Centrarchidae, sunfish family (biology), family (Centrarchidae) of the order (biology), order Centrarchiformes. It is the type species of its genus ''Micropterus ...

(or "smally" for short), but it lacks the vertical bars that are present on the sides of a smallmouth's body. The spotted bass also has small black spots below the

lateral line The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelia ...

unlike either the large or smallmouth bass. Juveniles often resemble the young smallmouth bass in having a broad band of orange at the base of the tail, followed by a broad black band and white edge. The spotted bass is known to hybridize with the smallmouth, which sometimes makes identification difficult. Spotted bass can be found in deeper water than smallmouth bass, at depths up to .

Distribution and habitat

Spotted bass seem to be segregated by habitat type from closely related species such as the largemouth and smallmouth bass. They tend to be found in areas with more

water current A current in a fluid is the magnitude and direction of flow within each portion of that fluid, such as a liquid or a gas. Types of fluid currents include: * Air current * Water current ** Current (hydrology), a current in a river or stream ** Oce ...

than the largemouth, and usually inhabit areas that are too warm, turbid and sluggish for smallmouth bass. They usually occur around

aquatic vegetation Aquatic plants, also referred to as hydrophytes, are vascular plants and Non-vascular plant, non-vascular plants that have adapted to live in aquatic ecosystem, aquatic environments (marine ecosystem, saltwater or freshwater ecosystem, freshwater ...

, submerged logs, and rock or

riprap Riprap (in North American English), also known as rip rap, rip-rap, shot rock, rock armour (in British English) or rubble, is human-placed rock or other material used to protect shoreline structures against scour and water, wave, or ice erosion. ...

walls in small to large flowing streams, rivers, and reservoirs. Spotted bass are distributed throughout the

Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...

basin as well as the central and lower

basin. The species may be found in Gulf Coast states from

east to

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. Spotted bass are native to portions of

East Texas East Texas is a broadly defined cultural, geographic, and ecological region in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas that consists of approximately 38 counties. It is roughly divided into Northeast Texas, Northeast, Southeast Texas, Sout ...

, particularly in the

Sabine The Sabines (, , , ; ) were an Italic people who lived in the central Apennine Mountains (see Sabina) of the ancient Italian Peninsula, also inhabiting Latium north of the Anio before the founding of Rome. The Sabines divided int ...

, Neches and Cypress Rivers.

Diet

Spotted bass usually feed on small fishes,

crayfish Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the infraorder Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. Taxonomically, they are members of the superfamilies Astacoidea and Parastacoidea. They breathe through feather-like gills. Some spe ...

and

aquatic insect Aquatic insects or water insects live some portion of their life cycle in the water. They feed in the same ways as other insects. Some ''diving'' insects, such as predatory diving beetles, can hunt for food underwater where land-living insects ...

s. The young begin with

copepod Copepods (; meaning 'oar-feet') are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat (ecology), habitat. Some species are planktonic (living in the water column), some are benthos, benthic (living on the sedimen ...

s and other small

s and soon begin to eat insects. The spotted bass' diet falls in between the largemouth and smallmouth bass. It isn't nearly as

predatory Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill ...

as the largemouth and only consumes about half the amount of the fish. Like all bass the spotted bass feeds by opening its mouth and creating a negative pressure that sucks in the prey.

Reproduction and life cycle

The spotted bass can live approximately six years.

Spawning Spawn is the Egg cell, eggs and Spermatozoa, sperm released or deposited into water by aquatic animals. As a verb, ''to spawn'' refers to the process of freely releasing eggs and sperm into a body of water (fresh or marine); the physical act is ...

occurs from April to May in habitat similar to that used by smallmouth. The males build their nest in gravel or other substrate, then entices a female to deposit her

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the ...

s. The males guard the eggs until they disperse. Several spotted and smallmouth bass hybrids have been collected recently in area reservoirs suggesting there is occasionally competition between the two species for spawning habitat.

Importance to humans

The spotted bass is a popular

game fish Game fish, sport fish or quarry refer to popular fish species pursued by recreational fishing, recreational fishers (typically angling, anglers), and can be freshwater fish, freshwater or saltwater fish. Game fish can be fish as food, eaten aft ...

that is fished regularly. In this context spotted bass is a good

food fish Many species of fish are caught by humans and consumed as food in virtually all regions around the world. Their meat has been an important dietary source of protein and other nutrients in the human diet. The English language does not have a s ...

for human consumption.

Invasive species

The spotted bass was introduced to the Thee River, Olifants‐

Doring River The Doring River () is a river in the Western Cape Province, South Africa. It is part of the Olifants/Doring River system. The name 'Doring' is also applied to a stretch of the Sout River, another Olifants tributary, midway through its cours ...

system,

Western Cape Province The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabi ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

as game fish before 2007, and is now rated as an invasive species. The population was successfully eradicated in 2014, where

gillnet Gillnetting is a fishing method that uses gillnets: vertical panels of netting that hang from a line with regularly spaced floaters that hold the line on the surface of the water. The floats are sometimes called "corks" and the line with corks is ...

s and

hand net A hand net, also called a scoop net, is a handheld fishing net or meshed basket used to capture and retrieve objects from water, somewhat in the manner of a sieve. It is distinguished from other fishing nets in that the net or mesh is supported ...

s were used to remove the majority of the stock, while individuals were also caught by

speargun A speargun is a ranged underwater fishing device designed to launch a tethered spear or harpoon to impale fish or other marine animals and targets. Spearguns are used in sport fishing and underwater target shooting. The two basic types are ' ...

seine net Seine fishing (or seine-haul fishing; ) is a method of fishing that employs a surrounding net, called a seine, that hangs vertically in the water with its bottom edge held down by weights and its top edge buoyed by floats. Seine nets can be de ...

s and backpack

electrofishing Electrofishing is a fishing technique that uses direct current electricity flowing between a submerged cathode and anode. This affects the movements of nearby fish so that they swim toward the anode, where they can be caught or stunned.

. The spotted bass was held responsible for a decline in abundance of native fiery redfin (''Pseudobarbus phlegethon'' Barnard, 1938) and

Cape galaxias The Cape galaxias (''Galaxias zebratus'') is a species of freshwater fish of the family Galaxiidae. It is a small fish, rarely larger than 6 cm, that inhabits clear streams, rivers and ponds of South Africa. It shares the same habitat as im ...

(''Galaxias zebratus'' Castelnau, 1861).

References

External links

* Rohde, F. C., et al. ''Freshwater Fishes of the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware.'' Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1994, {{Taxonbar, from=Q3643840

Spotted bass The spotted bass (''Micropterus punctulatus''), also called spotty, or spots in various fishing communities, is a species of North American freshwater fish belonging to the sunfish family (biology), family (Centrarchidae) of the order (biology), ...

Freshwater fish of the United States Fish of the Eastern United States Fauna of the Southeastern United States Freshwater fish of the Southeastern United States