Largemouth bass

The largemouth bass (Micropterus nigricans) is a carnivorous, freshwater, ray-finned fish in the Centrarchidae (sunfish) family, native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada and northern Mexico. It is known by a variety of regional names, such as the widemouth bass, bigmouth bass, black bass, largie, potter's fish, Florida bass or Florida largemouth, green bass, bucketmouth bass, green trout, growler, Gilsdorf bass, Oswego bass, southern largemouth and northern largemouth.

The largemouth bass, as it is known today, was first described by French naturalist Georges Cuvier in 1828. A recent study concluded that the correct scientific name for the Florida bass is Micropterus salmoides, while the largemouth bass is Micropterus nigricans. It is the largest species of the black bass, with a maximum recorded length of 29.5 inches (75 cm) and an unofficial weight of 25 pounds 1 ounce (11.4 kg).

The largemouth bass is the state fish of Georgia and Mississippi, and the state freshwater fish of Florida and Alabama. It is a highly prized sport fish among anglers for their vigorous resistance when caught, and have been introduced to many regions due to their popularity in bass fishing and tolerance to urban streams. However, they have become an invasive species in some areas, causing the decline, displacement or extinction of native species through predation and competition.

The largemouth bass was first formally described as Labrus salmoides in 1802 by the French naturalist Bernard Germain de Lacépède with the type locality given as the Carolinas. Lacépède based his description on an illustration of a specimen collected by Louis Bosc near Charleston, South Carolina. Recent phylogenomic studies, however, place the type locality given by Lacépède as within the range of the Florida bass (M. salmoides) and outside that of the largemouth bass. This study concludes that Lacépède's name is the correct binomial for the Florida bass and that the oldest available binomial for the largemouth bass is Cuvier's Huro nigricans, which has a type locality of Lake Huron which is within the range of the largemouth bass.

The largemouth bass is an olive green to greenish-gray fish, marked by a series of dark, sometimes black, blotches forming a jagged horizontal stripe along each flank. The upper jaw (maxilla) of a largemouth bass extends beyond the rear margin of the orbit.

The largemouth bass is the largest of the black basses, reaching a maximum recorded overall length of 29.5 in (75 cm) and a maximum unofficial weight of 25 lb 1 oz (11.4 kg). Sexual dimorphism is found, with the female larger than the male.

Largemouth bass prefer habitats with abundant littoral vegetation and generally maintain relatively small home ranges in lakes. They have an average lifespan of 10 to 16 years in the wild.

Juvenile largemouth bass consumes mostly small bait fish, scuds, water fleas, copepods, small shrimp, and insects. Adults consume smaller fish (bluegill, banded killifish, minnows, juvenile bass), shad, worms, snails, crawfish, frogs, snakes, and salamanders.^{[citation needed]} In larger lakes and reservoirs, adult bass occupy slightly deeper water than younger fish, and shift to a diet consisting almost entirely of smaller fish like shad, yellow perch, ciscoes, suckers, shiners, other cyprinids, freshwater silversides, and sunfish (such as bluegill and green sunfish). It also consumes younger members of larger fish species, such as catfish, trout, walleye, white bass, striped bass, and even smaller black bass. Among the crayfish species preyed upon include Faxonius difficilis, F. harrisonii, F. hartfieldi, and Procambarus clarkii. Prey items can be as large as 50% of the bass's body length or larger.