30 L. A/re.ezzI/ Identifying the Basses

Does Florida have smallmouth bass or not? This question has stirred up a hornet's nest of controversy. Here is the answer to Florida's bass question.

OT SO MANY months ago an He went away somewhat mollified, and the Smallmouth bass from work irate sportsman stormed into finally accepting the fact that the in other states with both N the office here in Tallahassee. magazine was right and he was from the egg stage to the adult ) He was not mad at the Game Com- wrong. examined closely, tagged, weighed and mission, he assured us, but at the This occasion was just one of a measured over 3,000 adult bass from fishing editor of an outdoor maga- number. I have been called upon Lake Apopka and from the other lakes zine who had refused to give him a to identify a record Florida Small- which connect with it in Lake County. prize on his record "Smallmouth" mouth bass for some hopeful sports- None of us ever saw a bass other than bass which he had caught in a Flor- man dozens of times, but the out- the regular Florida Largemouth. ida lake a few months before. come is always the same. I have While I personally did not see or ex- "Doesn't this Commission have examined numerous photographs, a amine the Apopka "Smallmouth," I do some biologists who can write an number of mounted, frozen, freshly not believe it could have been a true affidavit or letter to that editor and caught (and not so freshly caught) northern Smallmouth or even of the tell him that my fish is really a specimens, but have yet to see a Smallmouth group. Smallmouth bass ?" he wanted to northern Smallmouth bass f r om My belief in this case is substanti- know. We assured him that we Florida waters. ated by Rube Allyn, former president would be glad to do so if he could HE OFFICIAL records of the of Florida Outdoor Writers Associa- show us a reasonably good picture FIELD AND STREAM fishing tion. Allyn recently told me that he which would show details of the T contest, as well as the book entitled had carefully examined photographs characteristics and markings. He NORTH AMERICAN GAME of this fish and had disagreed with the could do better than that, he told us. identification in his daily newspaper He had had the specimen mounted , lists the world's record Smallmouth bass as a 14-pounder column at the time. Herb Mosher, an- and would bring it in to us the next other well-known Florida outdoor day. taken from Lake Apopka in 1932. Two of my associates and I (all writer, states that he too has yet to Sure enough, the next day he familiar with both the Largemouth see a Smallmouth bass from Florida showed up with a fine specimen waters. He also inspected photographs which had weighed about 11 pounds. of the Apopka record fish and claims We checked the fish thoroughly, that it was "unquestionably a Large- making counts of its scales, checking mouth bass." the separation of its dorsal fins and By John F. Dequine, Reprinted from On one occasion while I was in Cit- other characteristics. It certainly Florida Wildlife, Sept., 1949. Month- rus County, a group from Hernando was a fine bass ; the only thing ly Publication of Game & Fresh wrong was that his prize "small- Water Fish Commission. told me of a lake near there which had mouth" was definitely a largemouth! produced a near-record Smallmouth The bass is a new species but isn't a Northern Smallmouth.

bass. With several of these men I went or that they have caught Smallmouth hean, now chief of the Division of to this lake, and although we seined bass in Florida when modern ichthy- Game-fish and Hatcheries of the U. for better than an hour, we were un- ologists and biologists have never S. Fish and Wildlife Service, when he able to take any other than the regu- verified their existence here? was at the Welaka hatchery for about lar Largemouth bass. About a year First, we have it on good authority 3 years, tried to run down reports of ago, I examined a mounted specimen (the Biennial Report of this depart- the occurrence of the Smallmouth bass in Lake County which was said to ment for 1930) that a number of fin- in several lakes. He reports the same have been awarded an outdoor maga- gerling Smallmouth and Rock bass lack of success that I have had. zine's prize for the year's top Small- were obtained from a Federal hatch- Dr. Coleman Goin of the University mouth in about 1933. Although I did ery and planted in the Chipola, the of Florida Biology Department, a dis- not so inform the captor of this fish, Wakulla, the Wacissa and the Suwan- tinguished taxonomist himself, told it too was definitely a Florida Large- nee Rivers, and a lake called Blue Lake me recently that neither he nor any of mouth bass. in Hillsborough County in the sum- his associates have ever identified a THE magazine, FLORIDA WOODS mer of 1930. Smallmouth from Florida. AND WATERS, which was pub- Old issues of the magazine mention- NE reason for the layman's mis- lished by the Department of Game and ed above, FLORIDA WOODS AND O identification is that the Florida Fresh Water Fish in the Spring of WATERS, frequently stated that Largemouth differs from the north- 1931, has an article stating that Mr. Smallmouth bass were reported from ern Largemouth in some respects. In 0. W. Milton of Lake County caught the Suwannee and Chipola Rivers, as certain of its scale counts, for in- a 9-pound 13-ounce Smallmouth from well as a number of the streams in stance, it resembles a northern Small- Lake Seneca. The article goes on to Santa Rosa County. The FLORIDA mouth more than it does the northern explain in a letter from a man from GAME AND FISH for July, 1940, al- Largemouth. This fact has possibly Pennsylvania that in about 1908 a so a department publication, has this caused fishermen who were using a planting of 10,000 Smallmouth bass further information on the introduc- comparison of the northern Large- fingerlings was obtained from the tion of the species : mouth with the northern Smallmouth Federal Bureau of Fisheries and "The TALLAHASSEE D E M 0- to be in error. made in a number of Lake County CRAT, in 1932, reported that in 1910 lakes. Dr. I. N. Kennedy, former direc- Still another excellent reason for a large number of Smallmouth finger- the confusion among sportsmen as to tor of the Department, recently in- lings (were obtained) from a govern- formed me he assisted in planting the identification of these species is ment hatchery and planted . . . . in that the scientists themselves had not these fingerling bass in Lake Seneca, the Ochlocknee River, seven miles and loaned me the mounted specimen thoroughly clarified the separation of from Tallahassee and in the St. Marks the black basses until just recently. of the 0. W. Milton "Smallmouth." I basin, Orchard Pond, and Buck Lake." have carefully examined it, and find it All fishes as they are discovered are conforms precisely to the specifica- If the northern Smallmouth bass did scientifically catalogued and classified tions of a Florida Largemouth in occur in Florida and those plantings by ichthyologists who make a special- scale and fin ray counts and in the of this fish were successful, it seems ty of this of work, known as separation of the dorsal fins. The re- very peculiar indeed that no member . The taxonomist examines, lation of the upper jaw to the eye can- of this Commission's staff of biolo- measures and records data on every not be determined as the fish was gists, nor those who have worked at organ, bone, fin, scale, and charac- mounted with his mouth stretched the University of Florida for years teristic of the fish, and then classifies open. on fish problems, nor any other recog- it with other fish which are structur- nized ichthyologists have come across ally similar. He is as familiar with What then, has led people to insist the Smallmouth bass in making their the inside and outside working of a there are Smallmouth bass in Florida Florida collections. Dr. Lloyd Mee- fish as an expert garage mechanic is with the transmission, electrical sys- the largemouth group and the other between the membranes of the soft tem, and door latch of a car. eight in the smallmouth group. dorsal and the anal fins. These occur only in the smallmouth group, and One of the most important locations The drawings which accompany this can be found embedded in the fleshy for taxonomic work on freshwater article were made to illustrate differ- base of those fins as illustrated in Fig- fishes today is the Museum of Zoology ences in five different varieties of the ure 2. Only a very small part of these at the University of Michigan. Here black bass. As can be seen by these have been located Dr. Carl L. Hubbs drawings, more evidence than just the tiny scales is exposed, and sometimes a diligent search is necessary to find and Dr. Reeve M. Bailey, considered length of the upper jaw is necessary two of the leading U. S. experts in the to distinguish between the different them. taxonomy of freshwater fish. These species. While in most cases, the mem- The length of the maxillary is us- two prominent ichthyologists, both of bers of the largemouth group do have ually a good basis for separation of whom have spent considerable time in a jaw which extends past a vertical the two groups, but must always be Florida, recently published scientific line drawn from the back of their measured with the mouth of the bass reports entitled, "A Revision of the eyes, it is not any more unusual for closed. Color pattern too is generally Black Basses ( and Huro) a largemouth bass to have a short good, but markings on the same spe- with Descriptions of Four New jaw bone (maxillary) than it is for cies can sometimes vary greatly in Forms" (1940), and "The Black a human to have big ears or cross different waters, or even after spend- Basses of Florida, with Description eyes. All of these drawings, inciden- ing fifteen minutes in a livewell. In of a New Species" (1949). In these tally, are made from actual specimens general, the outstanding color mark- publications the classification of all or accurate photographs of actual ings of the different species are as known varieties of the black bass is specimens. Four of the five varieties illustrated, the smallmouth group be- discussed at length. These reports con- illustrated are found in Florida and ing usually darker in overall color. tain the basic data from which the the fifth, the northern Smallmouth, The scale counts, in spite of occasional scale and fin ray counts in the draw- is included for comparative purposes. overlapping are usually dependable, ings on these pages are based. It is ERHAPS one of the most obvious especially when a combination of these in the latter report that the Suwannee P characteristics for distinguishing counts is used : From the lateral line, Bass is described fully for the first between the two groups of bass is the the cheek, and above and below the time, although many native Floridi- manner in which the dorsal fins are lateral line as illustrated in Figure 2. ans and some Florida biologists have separated. As can be seen, there are There are also differences in the num- been aware of this different species two dorsal fins. The foremost one is ber of rays in certain fins and in body for some years. called the spiny because it measurements, but these are less de- LTHOUGH it was formerly thought contains the hard spines which jab pendable and more difficult for the A there were only two species, it is the amateur painfully when handling sportsman to distinguish without spe- now generally recognized that there the live fish. The other is called the cial instruction. Some of the internal are two groups of the black basses— soft dorsal fin. In the largemouth organs give positive group classifica- those belonging to the largemouth group these two fins are definitely tion too, but again require a back- group and those belonging to the separated. In other words, the first ground of biology to interpret. smallmouth group. Differences be- fin comes down and does not join up HE location where the fish is taken tween these two groups are based on with the second ; whereas in the small- T may often provide a clue to the such characteristics as fins, the length mouth group, the two seem to be part species. The Florida Largemouth's of the upper jaw, the number of of one and the same fin. Also, there original range is believed to have been scales in the cheek, in the lateral line, is a greater difference in the length from the mouth of the St. Johns River and on different parts of the body, of the spines found in the largemouth south and west to the mouth of the the number of vertebrae in the back- group, whereas the spines in the mem- Suwannee, but not including the Su- bone, and the arrangement of cer- bers of the smallmouth group are wannee. It is possible that it is scat- tain internal organs. These two groups more nearly the same size. tered now throughout northern Flor- are further divided into at least ten Another positive characteristic is ida and even into southern Georgia varieties, two of which are found in the presence or the absence of scales and Alabama, as fingerlings of bass

The Florida Largemouth, which is sometimes mistaken for a Smallmouth. Dorsal fins separate 7-9 scale rows above lateral line

61-66 lateral line scales Scales absent

10-11 cheek scale rows

Scales absent Maxillary extends 15-16 scale rows past eye below lateral line Northern Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salntoides salmoides)

Dorsal fins separate 8- 9 scale rows above lateral line

69-73 lateral line scales Scales absent 11-13 cheek scale rows

Scales absent

Maxillary extends 17-18 scale rows past eye below lateral line Florida Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides floridanus)

17 15 .14 lateral line /5 4-)

Figure 1. Sketch showing scale arrange- ment on cheek. Scales are counted in straight line frOm Figure 2. Sketch showing fin connection and position of scales on fins in. eye to lower left corner of smallmouth group, and method of counting scales above and be- cheek. Eleven rows here. low lateral line. Drawn from a specimen of the Suwannee Bass. from the Winter Haven and Welaka the Santa Fe River, the Withlacoochee Tallahassee, as will other biologists Hatcheries have been planted all over River (in Madison County) and the located at Welaka, Okeechobee, Willis- these areas from Florida Largemouth main body of the Suwannee River ton, Gainesville, Jacksonville, or We- brood stock. The Northern Large- down to the mouth. It is assumed that wahitchka. mouth is generally restricted to north it may be found in other tributaries It has not been the intention of Florida, but of course there is a good of the Suwannee. It, too, is a small this article to cause confusion or to bit of overlapping. species ; the specimen pictured here disappoint anyone who may have The Northern Smallmouth, on the had passed its fifth year and weighed thought he caught a world's record other hand, is limited to locations less than 12 ounces. Smallmouth bass. My purpose has other than peninsular Florida. Its ad- Northern Largemouth from the Su- been to clarify the status of the Small- vance into the southeastern U. S. ap- Wannee River weigh more than 4 or mouth bass in Florida and to provide pears to have been stopped a hundred 5 pounds at this age, and the northern a means whereby the sportsman can miles or so north of the Florida line Smallmouth from Tennessee waters distinguish between the various spe- in spite of numerous plantings. average better than 2 pounds for the cies of bass which are known to exist same time. No Florida records have here. I wish I could have prefaced The Spotted bass is known from the word "means" by the word "sim- Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, northern been established by this species, as the largest I have heard reported was ple." However, there is no simple way Alabama, and several other midwest- to distinguish between the basses. I ern and southern states. There have four and one-half pounds. Residents of counties bordering the Suwannee will be happy to learn of or to obtain been only two specimens identified specimens of any black bass from from Florida, both from the Flint River have known it as a different species since before 1900, or previous Florida which do not agree with the River where it joins the Chattahoochee specifications given here. just inside the Florida line. It is pos- to any recorded introduction of north- sible that this species is found else- ern Smallmouth into Florida. I cannot state definitely that there are no Smallmouth bass in Florida, I where in west Florida, but positive I T IS quite possible that there are can only say that neither I nor any verification remains to be made. The additional undiscovered varieties of other biologist or ichthyologist has "record Smallmouths" from Florida the black bass in Florida. Dr. Bailey seen one. I'm afraid I must agree with could not have been this species, as it suggests that still another species of Drs. Bailey and Hubbs' statement in rarely exceeds 4 pounds in weight. the smallmouth group may occur in their 1949 publication which says the Chipola and other west Florida The Suwannee bass, pictured in "We can find no valid evidence that streams. These "different" bass have this article, is relatively new to the smallmouth has become estab- science. It was first reported by Uni- also been reported taken from the lished in Florida." versity of Florida biologists from Ich- streams emptying into the northeast- tucknee Springs in Columbia County ern portion of the Gulf of Mexico. I Presented by will be glad to examine specimens at INFORMATION AND EDUCATION in 1941. It has since been found by Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission other workers, including myself, from any time in the laboratory here in Tallahassee, Florida

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FILL OUT AND MAIL TO: Thrilling FLORIDA WILDLIFE Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission Issues Tallahassee, Fla. $200 Enclosed is $2 to cover one year's subscrip- 12 tion to Florida Wildlife, Florida's OWN out- Only door magazine. Name ...... Address ...... City ...... State ...... Dorsal fins connected 12-13 scale rows above lateral line

- 72-75 lateral line scales Scales present 15-16 cheek scale rows

Scales present Maxilla]; 20-21 scale rows does not below lateral line extend past eye Northern Smallmouth Bass (Micropterus dolonneu dolomieu)

Dorsal fins connected 8- 9 scale rows above lateral line

Scales present 59-63 lateral line scales

12-13 cheek scale rows

Scales present Maxillary does not 17-18 scale rows extend past eye Suwannee Boss (Micropterus nottus) below lateral line

Dorsal fins connected 7- 9 scale rows above lateral line

61-66 lateral line scales Scales present 14-15 cheek scale rows

"- •

Scales present Maxillary does not 15-16 scale rows Distinct dark below lateral line rows or lines extend past eye

Spotted or Kentucky Bass (Microptcrus punctulatus punctulatus) John F Deguine