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Growth of the Florida Largemouth Bass, Micropterus salmoides floridanus (LeSueur), and the Northern Largemouth Bass, M. s. salmoides (Lacépède), in Subtropical Florida
Author(s) -
Clugston James P.
Publication year - 1964
Publication title -
transactions of the american fisheries society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1548-8659
pISSN - 0002-8487
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8659(1964)93[146:gotflb]2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - bass (fish) , micropterus , fishery , subspecies , biology , sexual maturity , subtropics , temperate climate , ecology
Three ponds near Fort Lauderdale, Florida were stocked with Florida largemouth bass fingerlings in April 1960. In July 1960, two ponds were stocked with northern largemouth bass fingerlings imported from Iowa. Samples of the bass were collected every month from each pond. The objectives of the study were: to investigate the seasonal pattern of growth of the largemouth bass, to determine possible differences in growth rates related only to the advent of sexual maturity, and to determine whether or not these subspecies would show differences in growth rate when grown under similar conditions in Florida. Temperature conditions in south Florida appear to be suitable for growth of the largemouth bass the year around. Both subspecies grew very fast in the study ponds. The northern form grew more rapidly than the southern bass during the early life history, but temperature differences could account for this difference in growth. The northern bass did not become mature during the experiment and the southern form matured at about 9 months of age. The length‐weight relationship of the bass populations differed although there is no evidence that these are related to the subspecies. All of the bass populations exhibited high condition factors for most of the year and, in general, the populations that consistently exhibited the highest condition factors grew faster than those with lower condition factors.