The yellow bass (''Morone mississippiensis'') is a member of the family

Moronidae The Moronidae is a family of percomorph fishes, commonly called the temperate basses, in the order Moroniformes. These fishes are found in the freshwaters of North America and the coastal waters of the North Atlantic. Taxonomy Moronidae was f ...

. This species is a deep bodied fish that possesses five to seven dark stripes laterally along the sides, the lowest few of these are often broken or disrupted anterior to the origin of the anal fin. This species is somewhat similar to two other species in the family Moronidae, the

white bass The white bass, silver bass, or sand bass (''Morone chrysops'') is a freshwater fish of the temperate bass family Moronidae. commonly around 12–15 inches long. The species' main color is silver-white to pale green. Its back is dark, with whit ...

and the

striped bass The striped bass (''Morone saxatilis''), also called the Atlantic striped bass, striper, linesider, rock, or rockfish, is an anadromous perciform fish of the family Moronidae found primarily along the Atlantic coast of North America. It has ...

. The yellow bass is distinguishable from both of these species by having the offset lateral stripes above the anal fin and from not possessing tooth patches on the tongue. The yellow bass differs further from the white bass by having nine to ten anal rays in comparison to eleven or thirteen. The back of the fish is usually a dark olive green, and the abdomen and sides are often a silvery yellow.

Diet

Food exploited by young yellow bass include small invertebrates including

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

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 juvenile yellow bass feeds almost exclusively on aquatic insects and crustaceans, and once they reach adulthood they feed primarily on other small fishes; the rest of their diet consists of small crustaceans.

Habitat and distribution

Yellow bass may be found in somewhat clear waters of 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 ...

from Minnesota to Louisiana and may also be found in the Trinity River and the

Tennessee River The Tennessee River is a long river located in the Southern United States, southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. Flowing through the states of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, it begins at the confluence of Fren ...

. The yellow bass can also be found in lakes surrounding these rivers, especially in areas with dense vegetation and low

turbidity Turbidity is the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by large numbers of individual particles that are generally invisible to the naked eye, similar to smoke in air. The measurement of turbidity is a key test of both water clarity and wa ...

. It may move into brackish

estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

Reproduction and life cycle

The reproductive biology of the yellow bass is similar to that of the white bass, where spawning occurs during the spring with fish swimming into the tributaries to make spawning runs. Spawning usually occurs in moderately shallow waters during which the female lies on her side and exposes the eggs as the male fertilizes from above. The larvae of the yellow bass

school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

together to avoid predation and they grow fairly quickly in size. Yellow bass have average lifespan of about six years.

Importance to humans

The yellow bass is not as popular a gamefish as either the

or the

because of its small size. They are usually caught by anglers fishing with crappie jigs or minnows. These fish may also be caught in large numbers because of their large populations. The yellow bass is edible and this fish is commonly eaten in its range. The

International Game Fish Association The International Game Fish Association (''IGFA'') is the leading authority on angling pursuits and the keeper of the most current world record fishing catches by fish categories. Fishermen who are sport fishers and anglers are careful to follow ...

(IGFA) world record yellow bass, caught in the Morse Reservoir in

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

in 2023, weighed , beating a 2000 record from the same lake of . The IGFA record for a

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two diff ...

yellow bass (crossed with a white bass) stands at , caught from Lake Fork Reservoir, Texas in 2023.

Etymology

The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

, ''mississippiensis'', comes from the

References

External links

Animal Texas Parks and Wildlife - Yellow Bass (''Morone mississippiensis'')

NatureServe Explorer - ''Morone mississippiensis''
{{Authority control Morone Fish of the Great Lakes Fish described in 1887 Taxa named by David Starr Jordan