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Comparative Growth of Northern Largemouth Bass and F 1 Hybrid Largemouth Bass through Three Growing Seasons
Author(s) -
Buck D. Homer,
Hooe Michael L.
Publication year - 1986
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(1986)115<296:cgonlb>2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - bass (fish) , micropterus , biology , fishery , hectare , hybrid , ecology , agronomy , agriculture
A 3‐year study was conducted of growth and condition of northern largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides salmoides and F 1 hybrid largemouth bass (male northern smallmouth bass M. dolomieui dolomieui x female largemouth bass) stocked together in diverse pond treatments. Six drainable 0.4‐hectare ponds in southern Illinois were initially stocked with similar numbers of half‐sibling largemouth bass and F 1 hybrid larvae produced in the laboratory. Most populations were censused and restocked each spring and fall through three growing seasons (1979–1981). Supplementary data were generated by introducing age‐1 largemouth bass and F 1 hybrids into two larger ponds containing mature populations dominated by largemouth bass and bluegills. Growth of pure largemouth bass was significantly faster than that of half‐sibling F 1 hybrids in all populations studied each year, regardless of treatment, although third‐year growths in the 0.4‐hectare ponds were complicated by a differential response to tagging. After the initial stocks of pure and F 1 hybrid bass reached age 1, samples of their pond‐spawned, age‐0 progeny were subjected to starch gel electrophoresis to distinguish pure largemouth bass from those containing smallmouth bass alleles (F 2 and backcrossed individuals). In all cases, growth by pure age‐0 largemouth bass was equal to or significantly greater than that by fish having smallmouth bass alleles (P < 0.05).