Bass with red mouth/gills?

[Bazoo]

I was reading this thread and it prompted a 2 part question.

First part.

 

I've seen a few bass that came out of ponds that had a red tinge to their gills and mouth area. Not in the mouth, but outside. An old man that was there told me that it meant the pond was low on oxygen.

 

Second part.

If bass are feeding on crawdads, the inside of their mouth is stained red, correct?

[Team9nine]

1. Picture? Suppose it’s possible, but I call it questionable.

2. False

 

…just my initial thoughts

[MN Fisher]

1: The lower the oxygen saturation in the blood, the darker it gets...so while bass blood is a bit different than human blood, it does react the same based on oxygen content...I'd declare that possible.

 

2: Like Brian said - that's an old wives tale. Eating crayfish - even in their red stage - won't stain the mouth. Does your mouth get stained red eating cooked lobster?

[Bazoo]

No picture. The fish I saw was red on the gills and underpart of its jaw toward the mouth, it was small, maybe 10". The old man caught it on a jerkbait sometime about mid spring. I said something about it being red and he said it was because the oxygen was low.

 

I have caught several bass out of that pond since then and none were reddish.

 

I've never eaten lobster, so I can't say.