Cross breeding bass?

[tysondawglee]

I know that smallmouth bass and spotted bass can cross breed and that is called a meanmouth bass but can a largemouth and spotted bass breed?  I have looked all over the web and also ran a search with no luck.  This is my last resort before I put the two and my swimming pool to see what happens and I don't think my wife will like that too much.

Thanks

Tyson

[Mattlures]

Yes they cross and its called a "virus" or "plague".

Not realy what its called, but a spotted bass is just about the worst thing that can happen to a good trophy bass lake. They ruin the gene pool with their inferior genetics and because they are smaller and more agresive they will out compete the LMB for prey and will lower the top end size of the LMB. I dont like spots! can you tell Also I beleive the meanmouth is a cross between a smallie and Lmb.

[Triton21]

Also I believe the mean mouth is a cross between a Small Mouth and Lmb

Small mouth/Spot!!!

[bear7625]

I would rather see a cross of a LM and Musky. Hell of a fight, but wouldn't want to lip one.

[WRB]

Spotted bass do not naturally hybridize with largemouth due to separation of waterways. Both are the sunfish family and can spawn successfully under controlled conditions; the intergrades would take on characteristics of both sub species.

Spotts normally are river bass preferring to spawn in deeper gravel areas, similar to where smallmouth spawn. Largemouth preferring more protected warmer shallower areas.

Alabama spotted bass grow 2X the size of northern Kentucky spotted bass, if your goal is larger spots; get the Alabama river spots.

The largemouth bass displaced the spotted bass in lake Perris, with the help of red ear (shellcrackers) sunfish. Spots have over run most other lakes they have been stocked into, outside of their natural range.

WRB

[Mattlures]

Also I believe the mean mouth is a cross between a Small Mouth and Lmb

Small mouth/Spot!!!

Yep I believe I was wrong.

[J Francho]

Something I wrote about meanmouth bass for my club:

I did a little research on "meanmouth bass."  My current understanding of what a meanmouth is, a cross between a Kentucky spotted bass (Micropterus punctulatus) and a small mouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu).  These are naturally occurring crosses that occur especially where the spotted bass is a contaminant species, from natural means or otherwise.  One interesting tidbit is the bit about them not being allowed in tournaments.  This link explains that it was disallowed due to not qualifying for both size limits for each species.  It was a keeper smallmouth, but not a keeper spot, not that it wasn't a "true bass."

http://www.catfish1.com/forums/f342/meanmouth-bass-16061.html

I did find some hearsay information about researchers crossing smallmouth bass with largemouth bass (Micropterus salmonoides) over 20 years ago, but details are sketchy.  There were reports of these fish attacking dogs and humans, and stocks were destroyed.  DEC confirms that no largemouth x smallmouth have ever been developed here or released into NY waters, including Oneida Lake.

So what the hell is Ron's weird bass?  Its not a modern meanmouth, since the spotted bass' natural range only goes as far north as Virginia, which was my original argument.  Could it be a naturally occurring hybrid?  Maybe, but most people that I talked, and have fished the spawn will tell you that smallmouth and largemouth have a definite spawn site preference that don't really overlap, and the timing for each species' spawn is different.  I would argue that last point, since given not so ideal conditions, bass will fulfill the urge to spawn, and I see this all over the bays off Lake Ontario.  Smallmouth beds and largemouth beds right next to each other.  These two fish were locked on beds on either side of a dock, last year:

http://plan-b.smugmug.com/Travel/Port-Bay-w-Burnie/20090522-PortBay-04/544979829_AqgFS-XL.jpg

http://plan-b.smugmug.com/Travel/Port-Bay-w-Burnie/20090522-PortBay-01/543369716_wTEhM-XL-1.jpg

I wouldn't call Ron's bass a meanmouth, since conventional naming has that reserved for spot x smallie hybrids, but just maybe it is a LMB X SMB.  I have a book from college that has identification keys for most of the species of fish in New York state.  Below is the full resolution picture of Ron's fish.  I'll have to check on what parameters need to collected to complete the key, and whether it can even be completed using the image file, but we might be able to get a few details that point one way or another, or toward both. 

http://plan-b.smugmug.com/Flower-City-Sportsman/FCS-Oneida-Lake-7252010/13091304_H3WnP#948839603_G7ZJa-O-LB

The only observation I made was that the upper maxillary was indeed past the eye when the mouth was in the closed position, hence my immediate largemouth identification.  But, I'm willing to dig further.

Nothing really important, but interesting, if you are interested.

And Brutus, rock bass are Centrarchids in good standing.  Centrarchidae, or the freshwater Sunfish family includes pumpkin seeds, blue gills, all species of black bass, crappie, and pygmy sunfish:

http://www.fishbase.org/identification/specieslist.cfm?famcode=302&areacode=&spines=&fins=

A really cool link that lumps all species of freshwater fish in New York State:

http://pond.dnr.cornell.edu/nyfish/fish.html

Another cool site for identifying fish:

http://www.wiscfish.org/fishid/frames.aspx

See you guys Friday AM for Black Lake!!!!

[Randall]

They do hybridize here in the lakes of GA and I know there have been potential state records for spotted bass that were found to be hybrids after genetic testing in Tennessee. So the simple answer is yes.

[tysondawglee]

Thanks Randall!!  Someone said they caught one at toona and I never heard of them mixing the breed like that.