Large-mouthed Black Bass ; Straw Bass 



Like all fishes of wide distribution, tlie black bass presents 

 great variations in colour; but whatever the colour the adult can 

 always be readily distinguished from the large-mouthed black 

 bass by the presence of about 17 rows of scales on the cheek 

 instead of 10 or 11 in the latter species. 



Head a! to 3|-; depth2f to3-|-; eye 5 to 6^; D. X, 13 to 13; A. Ill, 

 10 to 12; scales 11-72 to 85-25, 67 to 78 pores, about 17 rows on 

 cheek. Body ovate-fusiform, becoming deeper with age; mouth large, 

 but smaller than in the large-mouthed black bass; maxillary 

 ending considerably in front of posterior border of orbit, except 

 in very old examples; scales on cheek minute; those on body 

 small; dorsal fin deeply notched, but less so than in the other 

 species, the ninth spine being about half as long as the fifth, 

 and not much shorter than the tenth; soft dorsal and anal each 

 scaly at the base. General colouration, dull golden green, with 

 bronze lustre, often blotched with darker, especially on head; 

 young with darker spots along the sides, which tend to form 

 short vertical bars, but never a dark lateral band; 3 bronze bands 

 radiating from eye across cheek and opercles; a dusky spot on 

 point of opercle; belly white; caudal fin yellowish at base, then 

 black, with white tips; dorsal with bronze spots, its edge dusky. In 

 some waters the fin-markings are obsolete, but they are usually 

 conspicuous in the young. Southern examples usually have the 

 scales on lower part of sides with faint dark streaks. Adults 

 have all these markings more or less obliterated, the colour 

 ultimately becoming a uniform dead green, without silvery lustre. 



Larg-e-mouthed Black Bass; Straw Bass 



Microptenis. sahnoides (Lacepede) 



Among the Centrarchidce, the large-mouthed black bass is 

 second only to its cogener, the small-mouthed species, as a game- 

 fish. It is equally well known to anglers, and its range is even 

 greater. From Canada and the Red River of the North it ex- 

 tends southward to Florida, Texas, and even into Mexico. In all 

 suitable waters it is everywhere abundant, but prefers lakes, bay- 

 ous and other sluggish waters. In the small lakes of the Upper 

 Mississippi Valley it is most abundant in those of moderate or 

 shallow depths. Some small lakes that are rather shallow, whose 

 bottoms are chiefly mud, and whose water is warm, are found 

 to be well suited to the straw bass, and to be entirely without 

 the small-mouthed black bass. But small lakes of considerable 

 depth, cool water and with bottom partly of mud and partly of 



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