''Micropterus'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

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 ...

collectively known as the black bass, which belong 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 ...

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. ...

. They are sometimes erroneously called "black trout", but the name

trout Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...

more correctly refers to certain

potamodromous Fish migration is animal migration, mass relocation by fish from one area or body of water to another. Many types of fish migrate on a regular basis, on time scales ranging from daily to annually or longer, and over distances ranging from a few ...

members of the family

Salmonidae Salmonidae (, ) is a family (biology), family of ray-finned fish, the only extant member of the suborder Salmonoidei, consisting of 11 extant genera and over 200 species collectively known as "salmonids" or "salmonoids". The family includes salmo ...

(order

Salmoniformes Salmoniformes (, lit. "salmon-shaped") is an Order (biology), order of Actinopterygii, ray-finned fishes native to the temperate and subarctic Northern Hemisphere. It contains two suborders: Salmonoidei (containing only the Salmonidae) and Esocoi ...

). ''Micropterus'' are widely distributed east of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

, from the

Hudson Bay Hudson Bay, sometimes called Hudson's Bay (usually historically), is a large body of Saline water, saltwater in northeastern Canada with a surface area of . It is located north of Ontario, west of Quebec, northeast of Manitoba, and southeast o ...

basin in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

to northeastern

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. Several species, notably the largemouth and

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 ...

, have been very widely introduced throughout the world, and are now considered

cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Internationalism * World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship * Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community * Cosmopolitan ...

. All black bass species are highly sought-after

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 ...

and well known as strong fighters when hooked, and

bass fishing Bass fishing is the recreational fishing activity, typically via rod-based angling, for various North American freshwater game fishes known collectively as '' black bass''.Henshall, James A. (Dr.), ''Book of the Black Bass'', Cincinnati, OH: R ...

is an extremely popular

outdoor sport Outdoor recreation or outdoor activity refers to recreation done outside, most commonly in natural settings. The activities that encompass outdoor recreation vary depending on the physical environment they are being carried out in. These activitie ...

throughout their native range. Their meat is quite edible and firm, although they are not regarded as commercial

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 ...

. All black bass species have a dull-green base coloring with dark patterns on the sides. Most reach a maximum overall length of , but some strains of the

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 ...

have been reported to grow to almost in length. In

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 ...

seasons, the male builds a "nest" (spawning ground) in the bed where a female is induced 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, then the male externally fertilizes them. The male continues to guard the eggs and fry until they disperse from the nest. Various black bass species have been introduced into freshwater bodies outside North America, where they become invasive in many instances. In

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, they have been declared nuisance fish and are subjected to numerous attempts at eradicating them from local ecosystems.

Species

Currently, 14 recognized species are placed in this genus: * '' Micropterus cahabae'' W. H. Baker, Blanton & C. E. Johnston, 2013 (Cahaba bass) Baker, W.H., Blanton, R.E. & Johnston, C.E. (2013): Diversity within the Redeye Bass, ''Micropterus coosae'' (Perciformes: Centrarchidae) species group, with descriptions of four new species. ''Zootaxa, 3635 (4): 379–401.'' * '' Micropterus cataractae'' J. D. Williams & G. H. Burgess, 1999 (shoal bass) * '' Micropterus chattahoochae'' W. H. Baker, Blanton & C. E. Johnston, 2013 (Chattahoochee bass) * '' Micropterus coosae'' C. L. Hubbs & R. M. Bailey, 1940 (redeye bass) * '' Micropterus dolomieu'' Lacépède, 1802 (smallmouth bass)

* '' Micropterus henshalli'' C. L. Hubbs & R. M. Bailey, 1940 (Alabama bass) * '' Micropterus notius'' R. M. Bailey & C. L. Hubbs, 1949 (Suwannee bass) * '' Micropterus punctulatus''

Rafinesque Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz (; 22 October 178318 September 1840) was a French early 19th-century polymath born near Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire and self-educated in France. He traveled as a young man in the United States, ult ...

, 1819 (spotted bass) * '' Micropterus nigricans'' (

Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, baron Cuvier (23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier (; ), was a French natural history, naturalist and zoology, zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuv ...

, 1828) (largemouth bass) * '' Micropterus salmoides'' ( Lacépède, 1802) (Florida bass) * '' Micropterus tallapoosae'' W. H. Baker, Blanton & C. E. Johnston, 2013 (Tallapoosa bass) * '' Micropterus treculii'' ( Vaillant & Bocourt, 1874) (Guadalupe bass) * '' Micropterus velox'' Hubbs & Bailey, 1940 (Neosho bass) * '' Micropterus warriorensis'' W. H. Baker, Blanton & C. E. Johnston, 2013 (warrior bass) A 15th species, the Choctaw bass ''Micropterus haiaka'', has been proposed, but this does not yet appear to have been widely accepted. A further two species, the Altamaha bass and Bartram's bass, are as yet undescribed and have been included under the redeye bass. A genomic analysis in 2022 described new species and found that the

binomial Binomial may refer to: In mathematics *Binomial (polynomial), a polynomial with two terms *Binomial coefficient, numbers appearing in the expansions of powers of binomials *Binomial QMF, a perfect-reconstruction orthogonal wavelet decomposition * ...

s, ''M. salmoides'' and ''M. floridanus'' as used above are misapplied to the largemouth bass and the Florida bass, this study found that ''M. salmoides'' is the valid binomial for the Florida bass, while ''M. floridanus'', is its

junior synonym In taxonomy, the scientific classification of living organisms, a synonym is an alternative scientific name for the accepted scientific name of a taxon. The botanical and zoological codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. ...

. They also found that the oldest available binomial for the largemouth bass is ''M. nigricans''. A single

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

species, †'' Micropterus relictus'' Smith, Cavender & Miller, 1975 is known from the

Late Pliocene Late or LATE may refer to: Everyday usage * Tardy, or late, not being on time * Late (or the late) may refer to a person who is dead Music * Late (The 77s album), ''Late'' (The 77s album), 2000 * Late (Alvin Batiste album), 1993 * Late!, a pseudo ...

Early Pleistocene The Early Pleistocene is an unofficial epoch (geology), sub-epoch in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, representing the earliest division of the Pleistocene Epoch within the ongoing Quaternary Period. It is currently esti ...

Jalisco, Mexico Jalisco, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is located in western Mexico and is bordered by s ...

, when it presumably inhabited the

Lake Chapala Lake Chapala (, ) has been Mexico's largest freshwater lake since the desiccation of Lake Texcoco in the early 17th century. It borders both the states of Jalisco and Michoacán, being located within the municipalities of Ocotlán, Jalisco, ...

basin. This is the southernmost species known to have existed, as ''Micropterus'' basses are no longer native to the region. Several indeterminate fossil ''Micropterus'' are known from the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

of Nebraska and Oklahoma, US, with the oldest dating to the

Middle Miocene The Middle Miocene is a sub-epoch of the Miocene epoch (geology), epoch made up of two Stage (stratigraphy), stages: the Langhian and Serravallian stages. The Middle Miocene is preceded by the Early Miocene. The sub-epoch lasted from 15.97 ± 0. ...

(16-15 mya).

References

{{Authority control Lepominae Ray-finned fish genera Freshwater fish genera Symbols of Mississippi * Extant Miocene first appearances Taxa named by Bernard Germain de Lacépède

Species

See also

References