Lmb and striper bass hybrid?

[burr56]

I caught a bass this morn and it has green back and sides butlower on sides there are also stripes. Is this a little cross breeding at work?

[Scott F]

No, it is not a cross between a striper and a largemouth. It's called a spotted bass. Spotted bass usually (but not always) have a rough patch on their tongue.

[scaleface]

Largemouth bass  are not real bass , rather they are in the sunfish family . I imagine its impossible to have a striper / largemouth hybrid . I agree with Scott F .

[burr56]

All right then, we have a "spotted bass" that has stripes- fits my world just right?thanks. 

[Bluebasser86]

Natural hybrids don't happen that often, and there's no record of a temperate bass/sunfish family hybrid that I'm aware of, even in a controlled environment. 

 

Tons of them in your area, surprised that's the first one you've seen from down there. They also feel much rougher than a LMB or smallmouth if you feel the scales on the sides. The only hybrid you might encounter that I'm aware of would be a meanmouth, a SMB/spotted bass hybrid. They happen pretty frequently on Table Rock, Stockton, and Beaver where SMB and spots both occur in large numbers.

This is gardnerjigman with a meanmouth from Table Rock a couple years ago.

[Ariffy]

Pretty sure it's a spotted bass 

[Raul]

On 6/9/2018 at 7:19 PM, burr56 said:

I caught a bass this morn and it has green back and sides butlower on sides there are also stripes. Is this a little cross breeding at work?

That looks like an ordinary LMB to me. 

Natural hybrids can happen when to closely related species exist together, LMB and Stripped bass are no closely related, LMB is more closely related to SMB and to Spotted, Stipped bass and White bass are closely related but hybrids are man made, not natural.

[WRB]

The bass in the photo has visual characteristics of a Spotted bass; connected dorsal fin, dark spot at the base of tail and scales on the tail membrane. Coloration varies and not a good identifier, spot under the lateral line are not identifiers.

Mouth is open , so can't tell where the jaw ends verses the center of the eye.

Tom

[Fairtax4me]

It's a spotted bass. The spots are on their back. That ones spots haven't darkened quite yet but they're there if you look close. 

Spots have a much smaller mouth then largemouth do, it's usually very obvious just by looking at the mouth. 

 

Google spotted bass and look at pics. 

[moguy1973]

5 main ways to tell a spot from a LMB.  WRB touched on a couple of them.

 

1. Dorsal Fin: Largemouth dorsal fins are separated from each other where spots are connected.

2. Tongue patch: Spotted bass have a rough patch on their tongues where Largemouth do not. (sometimes spotted bass do not have this patch so it's not always an indication.)

3. Cheek scales: Spotted bass have much smaller cheek scales than the rest of their body where LMBs have scales similar to the rest of their body.

4. Jaw length: When a LMBs mouth is closed the "hinge" of the mouth is beyond their eye where the spotted bass is typically right at their eye.

5. Belly spots:  Typically a spotted bass will have lines of spots on their bellies where LMBs usually just have white bellies.

 

Usually there is one of these features that will distinguish which type of bass you have. 

[the reel ess]

On 6/9/2018 at 10:06 PM, scaleface said:

Largemouth bass  are not real bass , rather they are in the sunfish family . I imagine its impossible to have a striper / largemouth hybrid . I agree with Scott F .

They only exist on the Isle Of Doctor Moreau.