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Relation of Largemouth Bass Reproduction to Crowded Sunfish Populations in Florida Ponds
Author(s) -
Barwick D. Hugh,
Holcomb Dennis E.
Publication year - 1976
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(1976)105<244:rolbrt>2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - micropterus , bass (fish) , predation , spawn (biology) , centrarchidae , biology , fishery , reproduction , ecology
Largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) were studied in an effort to determine if a repressive factor or predation by sunfishes (Lepomis sp.), or both, caused failure of bass reproduction in ponds crowded with sunfishes. In addition, we observed anosmic bass to determine if lack of olfaction would allow bass to spawn, in the event that a repressive factor operating through the sense of smell was the inhibitor. However, neither a repressive factor nor sunfish predation was believed to be responsible for lack of reproduction. Lack of reproduction was apparently associated with a physical factor that in some way interrupted normal bass breeding activity.