# Bass. What's In A Name?



## NCbassattack (May 5, 2014)

Lots of fish carry the moniker "bass". But, are they really? Actually, no. There are four "true" basses, and one of them is called "perch", which of course they aren't. These true basses are the striped bass, white bass, yellow bass, and white perch.
If that's not enough to confuse you, two other fish in the sunfish family are also called "bass", the rock bass, and the similar but much more restricted in range Roanoke bass, found only in a few flows in central and eastern NC.
As for the largemouth and cousins, these fish are actually more closely related to sunfish.
And most scientists agree there are nine species, and some even recognize as many as 14 or more species of micropterus.
Recent genetic testing has shown the Florida bass is different from the largemouth, and the Alabama bass another species, no longer lumped in with the spotted bass.
Many small species occur in southern waters, usually in mountain rivers. We have the redeye bass (aka coosae bass) in a few mountain flows, Texas has the Guadalupe bass, Georgia the Suwannee bass, and on it goes. Sometimes I think that scientists are just splitting hairs, as in the Florida/largemouth bass division. If indeed the two fish are separate species, does that throw the largemouth record out the window? Many believe the record fish, caught in a south Georgia lake was a hybrid between the two species, which would disqualify Perry's fish as a world record!
Of course, since that was back in 1932, there's no way to tell. And, if it was not a hybrid, which species holds the record? How can it be said the fish is a world record largemouth, or a record Florida bass?
Makes your head hurt...lol But sadly, the evidence does in fact show the general consensus is that there are two species of very similar bass roaming the waters of the deep South..


----------

