246 



FISHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



The large-mouthed black bass is native to a wide expanse of territory, 

 bounded on the north by the Great Lakes and on the south by*southern Florida 

 and Mexico. Tkrough the efforts of the general government, as represented by 

 the Bureau of Fisheries, the species has been introduced into neaily every state, 

 and may also be met with in various European countries. While foimd in the 

 mountain regions of North Carolina, this bass is essentially a fish of the plateau 

 and coastal plain regions, being more numerous in the coastwise waters than 

 elsewhere. It is especially abundant in tributaries of Albemarle Sound and in 

 Currituck Sound, and probably exists there in greater numbers than in any other 

 waters in the country. 



The name by which this fish is generally known in North Carolina is "Welsh- 

 man", which is not employed elsewhere. This designation was in use as eajly 

 as 1709, when Lawson referred to the "brown pearch, or Welshman". Another 

 local name, peculiar to North Carolina and Virginia, is "chub". "Trout" is 

 the name usually applied to the fish in all the southern states, and it was this 



Fig. 107. Large-mouthed Black Bass. Microptertis scdmoides. 



fact that led the Frenchman, Lacepede, to give it the technical name salmoides 

 (that is, like a salmon or tr«)ut). Among the fishermen of the Wilmington 

 region the fish is known as "chub" and "fresh-water trout". 



This is the largest and most important member of the family, and is the 

 equal of the small-mouthed black bass as a food fish and but slightly inferior as a 

 game fish. It inhabits more sluggish and warmer waters than the other species, 

 and tlii'ives under more extreme conditions of environment and temperature; for 

 this reason it is better adapted for transplanting in the country at large. It 

 reaches its maximum weight in Florida, where examples weighing as much as 20 to 

 25 pounds have been taken in lakes. Relatively large fish of 6 to 8 pounds are 

 also common in the South Central States, while in the north the maximum is 

 about 8 pounds and the average is 2 to 4 pounds. 



The fish occasionally enters brackish and salt water. On April 7, 1904, the 

 writer observed several fine examples that had been caught in pound nets in 

 Croatan Sound in water that was quite salt; these had doubtless come out of 

 some of the short rivers about the sound. 



