Critter Catalog

What do they look like?

Adult white bass can be as long as 46 cm (18 inches), and can weigh up to 3.2 kg (7 pounds). Females are often larger than males. White bass are silvery gray in color, and the belly is always lighter than the back. They have many narrow stripes on their sides.

• Other Physical Features
• ectothermic
• heterothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• female larger

• Range mass

  3.2 (high) kg

  7.05 (high) lb

• Range length

  460 (high) mm

  18.11 (high) in

Where do they live?

White bass are found in many parts of central North America. Originally they only existed in the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River, but because of introductions they are now most common in the Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio rivers.

• Biogeographic Regions
• nearctic
  • native

What kind of habitat do they need?

White bass prefer to live in large bodies of water, such as deep lakes and large rivers, especially above dams. They do not like muddy water or areas with many plants.

• These animals are found in the following types of habitat
• temperate
• freshwater

• Aquatic Biomes
• lakes and ponds
• rivers and streams

How do they grow?

White bass eggs hatch take about two days to hatch. The young larvae quickly begin to form schools, just as adults do.

How do they reproduce?

White bass swim to shallow water to breed. They do not build nests or form mating pairs. As a female lays her eggs, a group of males follows her, each trying to fertilize as many eggs as he can. Once the eggs are fertilized, the adults swim back to deep water.

• Mating System
• polyandrous

White bass breed when the water temperature reaches about 14 degrees celsius. This usually happens in February in the southern United States, and in May in the north. Each female lays around 500,000 eggs, which then sink and stick to the bottom. A group of males then fertilizes them. The eggs hatch about two days later. The young can grow to adulthood in as little as two years if they live in the south, but it can take much longer if they live in ther north.

• Key Reproductive Features
• seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• fertilization
  • external
• broadcast (group) spawning
• oviparous

• How often does reproduction occur?

  White bass annually breed in the spring

• Breeding season

  Spawning occurs from March through May

• Range number of offspring

  Up to 100's of thousands (high)

• Average time to hatching

  2 days

• Average time to hatching

  2 days

  AnAge

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  2 years

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
  Sex: female

  1095 days

  AnAge

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  2 years

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
  Sex: male

  730 days

  AnAge

Once they migrate to spawning grounds and the eggs are laid and fertilized, the adults abandon the eggs and return to deeper water.

• Parental Investment
• no parental involvement
• pre-fertilization
  • provisioning
  • protecting
    • female

How long do they live?

White bass grow quickly and have high death rates. Northern and southern populations have different average lifespans. Typically, southern white bass live about 4 years while northern white bass can live 8 years. Some white bass have reached 14 years of age.

• Range lifespan
  Status: wild

  15 (high) years

• Typical lifespan
  Status: wild

  4 (low) years

• Range lifespan
  Status: captivity

  9 (high) years

  AnAge

How do they behave?

White bass are social, they can be found traveling in large schools in areas of open water. Schools of white bass can be seen near the surface feeding during certain times of the day, while at other times schools are found in water as deep as 30 meters. Schools are made up of fish of about the same age, with larger schools containing more younger fish.

• Key Behaviors
• natatorial
• motile
• nomadic
• social

Home Range

No information on home range size was found but fish have been documented traveling large distances. A tagged fish was once recovered in Missouri that had traveled over 40 miles. White bass in Lake Erie have been documented traveling throughout the entire lake. (Walden, 1964)

How do they communicate with each other?

White bass use their lateral line systems to detect water movement and rely on vision and sensing chemical cues. Little is known about communication in this species.

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• chemical

What do they eat?

Larval white bass eat mostly zooplankton, especially Daphnia species. Juveniles eat mostly invertebrates, such as chironomid larvae, mayfly larvae, dragonfly larvae, damselfly larvae, bugs, amphipods, and crayfish. Adults over 350 mm in size start to eat mostly fish. Common prey includes, fathead minnows, johnny darters, gizzard shad, threadfin shad, young sunfish, yellow perch, saugers, freshwater drum, carp, bullhead species, and others. White bass have up to 4 peaks in daily feeding activity, but this can change throughout the year.

• Primary Diet
• carnivore
  • piscivore

• Animal Foods
• fish
• insects
• aquatic crustaceans
• zooplankton

What eats them and how do they avoid being eaten?

White bass are easily preyed upon by many carnivorous fish species, including other white bass. (Schultz, 2004)

• Known Predators

  • white bass (Morone chrysops)

What roles do they have in the ecosystem?

White bass are important as intermediate predators in the ecosystems in which they live, they are food for larger fish and other predators.

Do they cause problems?

There are no known adverse effects of Morone chrysops on humans.

How do they interact with us?

White bass are popular with anglers and are considered good to eat.

• Ways that people benefit from these animals:
• food

Are they endangered?

White bass are fairly common throughout their range, they are not listed on any conservation lists.

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  No special status

• State of Michigan List

  No special status

Contributors

Tanya Dewey (editor), Animal Diversity Web, Mary Hejna (editor), University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

Tyler Morgan (author), Eastern Kentucky University, Sherry Harrel (editor, instructor), Eastern Kentucky University.

References

2005. "Aquatic Habitat Assessment" (On-line). American Fisheries Society. Accessed October 16, 2005 at http://www.fisheries.org/html/publications/bookpdf/aquaticmethods.pdf.

Etnier, D., W. Starnes. 2001. The Fishes of Tennessee. Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press.

Gilbert, C., J. Williams. 2002. National Audubon Society Field Guide to Fishesl. New York, United States: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc..

Guy, C., R. Schultz, M. Colvin. 2002. Ecology and Management of White Bass. North American Journal of Fisheries Management, Volume 22 Issue 2: 606-608.

Hartman, K. 1998. Diets of White Bass in the Ohio Waters of Lake Erie during June–October 1988. American Fisheries Society, Volume 127: 323-328. Accessed November 24, 2005 at http://afs.allenpress.com/perlserv/?request=get-document&issn=1548-8659&volume=127&issue=2&page=323.

Quist, M., C. Guy, R. Bernot, J. Stephen. 2002. Ecology of larval White Bass in a large Kansas Reservoir. North American Journal of Fisheries Management, Volume 22 Issue 2: 637-642.

Schultz, K. 2004. Field Guide to Freshwater Fish. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc..

Walden, H. 1964. Familiar Freshwater Fishes of America. New York, NY: Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc..

Willis, D., C. Paukert, B. Blackwell. 2002. Biology of White Bass in Eastern South Dakota Glacial Lakes. North American Journal of Fisheries Management, Volume 22 Issue 2: 627-636.