Mean Mouth Bass

[Dwight Hottle]

On July 8, 2014 at 5:56 AM, Bluebasser86 said:

There was a lot of debate awhile back over whether that fish was a meanmouth like it appears to be, or a smallmouth like FC was calling it. Looks like a meanmouth to me, but without genetic testing we'll never know. If it was a meanmouth it would have blown the world record out of the water. It's a beast no matter what it was though.

I always thought that Chris said it was a smallmouth. I never believed it because of the coloration & lateral line. It always appeared to green in coloration. It was a beautiful fish. 

[Bluebasser86]

1 hour ago, Dwight Hottle said:

I always thought that Chris said it was a smallmouth. I never believed it because of the coloration & lateral line. It always appeared to green in coloration. It was a beautiful fish. 

FC always called it a smallmouth. I was like you, never felt like it was all smallmouth, just one of those things not worth debating with someone about because, whatever it was, it was a big, beautiful fish.

[MikeWright]

My mind just got blown...so there's more than LMB SMB and RB?! Can anyone post some more pics of these "Shoalies and Mean Mouths"??? I don't understand...

[MikeWright]

Is this a spotted bass?

[OCdockskipper]

tough to tell definitively from that picture, but I would venture no.  The size of the head, the mouth and the overall body shape look largemouth, not spot.

[TnRiver46]

7 hours ago, MikeWright said:

Is this a spotted bass?

That's a largemouth 

Here's a meanmouth

[TheGreatOne]

So it's basically a Smargemouth bass cool.... I've never heard of mean mouth bass before now... wow... but it's a bass so they are cool and theat one looks like it would peel a little drag!!

[Bluebasser86]

11 hours ago, TheGreatOne said:

So it's basically a Smargemouth bass cool.... I've never heard of mean mouth bass before now... wow... but it's a bass so they are cool and theat one looks like it would peel a little drag!!

They're usually spot/smallmouth crosses that I've seen. I don't know how often the largemouth/smallmouth cross happens. I caught one at Table Rock I believe was a largemouth/spot mix that was a really cool looking fish. I caught a pretty smallmouth/spot meanmouth on a Whopper Plopper at Table Rock this fall.

[TnRiver46]

I'm pretty sure Largemouth and smallmouth can't hybridize, a meanmouth is a spotted bass/smallmouth hybrid like bluebasser said 

[fishwizzard]

Man, I had no idea these things even existed.  

 

Of course, until last summer I had never heard of a rockbass and was a little worried then I caught what I thought was a pale smallie with glowing red eyes while wading.  I was afraid that there was like a chemical spill I was not aware of or something.

 

 

[Bluebasser86]

On 2/21/2017 at 11:18 PM, MikeWright said:

My mind just got blown...so there's more than LMB SMB and RB?! Can anyone post some more pics of these "Shoalies and Mean Mouths"??? I don't understand...

There's way more than just 3 kinds of Black Bass. According to Wikipedia, there's at least 14 different subspecies, and it doesn't list the Meanmouth as a subspecies, which I know it is since there's records kept for them. 

[RMax]

On 2/21/2017 at 9:18 PM, MikeWright said:

My mind just got blown...so there's more than LMB SMB and RB?! Can anyone post some more pics of these "Shoalies and Mean Mouths"??? I don't understand...

There are also Guadalupe bass, Suwanee bass, red-eyed bass...

[J Francho]

On 2/25/2017 at 4:48 PM, TnRiver46 said:

I'm pretty sure Largemouth and smallmouth can't hybridize, a meanmouth is a spotted bass/smallmouth hybrid like bluebasser said 

 

Actually, the term "meanmouth" was coined to describe a smallmouth x largemouth cross.

 

http://www.in-fisherman.com/bass/hybrid-black-bass/

 

Quote

fertilizing largemouth eggs with smallmouth sperm produced viable offspring that reproduced among themselves and with both parental species.

 

So, they probably won't hybridize naturally, but it has been done in a lab.

[Team9nine]

In-Fish link above has the right info. Originally a larger-smallie cross, but has become a widespread term covering several crosses now, most commonly the smallie-spotted one mentioned. That is typically the one you see in pictures from the Ozarks. 

 

While most people speculate based on looks as to whether a fish is a meanmouth or not, the only true way to tell is by genetic testing. This is due to the variation in morphology of basses normally seen in nature across a range of habitats.

 

-T9

[J Francho]

8 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

morphology

 

You used one of my favorite vocab words! 

[jr231]

Can this happen with crappie and LM bass ? 

[Team9nine]

1 hour ago, J Francho said:

 

You used one of my favorite vocab words! 

 

Glenn hasn't added that one yet to the list of words needing to be filtered out

Morphology - morphology - morphology!!!

 

35 minutes ago, Yeajray231 said:

Can this happen with crappie and LM bass ? 

 

I've never heard of them crossing before. Usually have to be very close on the family tree so to speak...nearly the same twig So black and white crappie might hybridize, but neither would likely cross with say bluegill or bass which are in the same family.

[jr231]

Reason I ask is because I see pictures like this floating around the net..I understand how easy it is to make fradulent pictures... And also have them look very convincing.. 

 

This one looks like a black crappie and LM mixed .. 

 

Like I said.. easily faked. 

 

Interesting nonetheless. 

 

The tree comparison makes sense to me. 

[J Francho]

That's a terrible photochop job.

[jr231]

Umm.. I worked hard on that. 

[Bluebasser86]

11 hours ago, Yeajray231 said:

Reason I ask is because I see pictures like this floating around the net..I understand how easy it is to make fradulent pictures... And also have them look very convincing.. 

 

This one looks like a black crappie and LM mixed .. 

 

Like I said.. easily faked. 

 

Interesting nonetheless. 

 

The tree comparison makes sense to me. 

Since it's not the actual fish, I'm going to guess that the taxidermist just did a poor job with that mount. The shape, body, and head are all right for a big crappie, just the color is bad. Possible it came from a lake with very dark water that caused it to lose some of it's distinct coloration? I'd be shocked if a bass/crappie hybrid could happen without a lot of human intervention, and even then it might not be possible. 

[TheGreatOne]

On 2/22/2017 at 0:46 AM, MikeWright said:

Is this a spotted bass?

That looks like a largemouth to me buddy