By Steve Quinn
For the last 100 years, unusually large largemouth bass have inspired a remarkable level of interest among anglers worldwide. Once railroad lines extended to Florida from big northern cities, affluent anglers traveled to the original big-bass mecca of the Sunshine State in their quest for wall-hangers. While big fish are always a draw, specialist anglers who favor walleyes, trout, panfish, marine species, or even muskies seem less focused on catching unusually large ones.
As our knowledge of fish genetics has grown over the last four decades, we’ve seen how important these microscopic molecules are in determining fish behavior, growth, and many other characteristics. Now that the foremost fish genetics experts have determined that what we once considered two subspecies of largemouth bass are indeed two species—northern largemouth bass and Florida bass—genetics is even more central to this discussion. Since Dr. Carl Hubbs’ designation of the subspecies, Micropterus salmoides salmoides and Micropterus salmoides floridanus in the 1930s, we’ve focused on these two types that readily interbreed when brought together in suitable habitat.
In the early 1980s, Dr. David Philipp and his team from the Illinois Natural History Survey used electrophoresis to genetically define the natural habitat of Florida largemouths and an intergrade zone where largemouths seemed to have characteristics intermediate between the northern largemouth bass subspecies and the Florida subspecies. It extended from northern Florida north into Maryland and west through Mississippi. Genetic analysis showed Florida bass subspecies only in peninsular Florida, and northern bass in the rest of the U.S., except Texas, California, and a few other states where Florida bass had been introduced.
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