Is this a bass with abnormal fins, or something else?

[BrianMDTX]

Someone I know back in Maryland caught this fish in the Choptank River recently. It looks like a LMB, but those fins! He said it looked like fins on a snakehead.  Ever seen a bass with fins like this?

 

[MN Fisher]

Never seen one like that - but genetic abnormalities do crop up now and then.

[GaryH]

New one to me.?

[Smells like fish]

Dang, that’s neat! I’d like see it get 10 pounds lol

[Bankbeater]

Whoa! I'd send a pic to your conservation office and see what they say.

[Chris Catignani]

Not really knowing for sure...but it looks like that fish has fin rot...which you see sometimes with aquarium fish.

[scaleface]

What the ... and its all the fins . Thats a genetic freak .

[GreenPig]

Nope. Never seen that.

[newriverfisherman1953]

Woah that’s a bad one for sure. 

[HaydenS]

Notice he caught it in a river

[Smokinal]

That's what happens when people flush their bettas down the toilet.....

 

 

 

 

[12poundbass]

Is it possible he’s jerking your chain and sent you a photoshopped bass? 

[the reel ess]

That's the elusive LMB-goldfish hybrid. The goldmouth bass. 

[BrianMDTX]

29 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

Is it possible he’s jerking your chain and sent you a photoshopped bass? 

I can’t confirm that 100%. But if it is, it’s a great job. 
 

But I think it’s a legit pic. 

[Fishlegs]

I think that’s called a mullet bass. 

Scientific name: Billyraysus Cyridacea ?

 

[Bluebasser86]

It's a bass, just a deformity of some sort. It happens in every species to some degree. It appears healthy otherwise and is obviously eating. I'd send the picture to your DNR just to be sure but other than that wouldn't worry. 

[waymont]

I'm going to go with it's photoshopped. 

[ironbjorn]

Only the human would dump waste and pollutants into the water it drinks and eats from, with no regard for its habitat. Good God.

[GRiver]

Unique fish for sure…

[Ski]

NEVER have I.

[J Francho]

Long fins is a fairly common genetic mutation in fish. It is probably the first one you see in aquarium specimens. Think about the common guppy. They don't naturally have those long fins. It's not surprising to see it in nature. It isn't from any pollutants in the water. 

[moguy1973]

Tank raised bass that was fed a lot of feeder guppies and then released.

 

Looks too unreal to not be photoshopped.  Would have liked to see a video of it.   I would think there would have been other bass with a similar defect that have been caught but I'm not seeing any other pictures posted on the interwebs similar to that one.

[J Francho]

36 minutes ago, moguy1973 said:

Tank raised bass that was fed a lot of feeder guppies and then released.

Why would that cause a genetic mutation?

[Boomstick]

This is what happens when a bass is exposed to punk rock for an extended period of time.

[MN Fisher]

5 minutes ago, Boomstick said:

This is what happens when a bass is exposed to punk rock for an extended period of time.

And here I thought it was country that did this to it.