Reproductive Biology and Early Life History of Fishes in the Ohio River Drainage

Aphredoderidae through Cottidae, Moronidae, and Sciaenidae, Volume 5

Robert Wallus,Thomas P. Simon

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2006
• ISBN:
  9781000611434
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Zoology
• Index: Biological Sciences

This seven-volume series is the most extensive treatise on early life histories of the freshwater fishes of North America. It represents the state-of-the-art in fishery biology and provides a systematic approach to the study of early life histories of all the fishes in this region. Each volume contains distinguishing characteristics and a pictorial

FAMILY MORONIDAE

Temperate Basses

Robert Wallus and Larry K. Kay

Temperate basses are freshwater or euryhaline fishes that spawn in freshwater. Nelson (1994) lists two genera: Morone with four species from North America, and the closely related Dicentrarchus with two species from Europe and North Africa. The four North American species are white perch Morone americana, white bass M. chrysops, yellow bass M. mississippiensis, and striped bass M. saxatilis (Nelson et al., 2004). These are predaceous fishes renowned by anglers for their size and fighting abilities. White and yellow bass are important freshwater game fishes and the anadromous striped bass, a highly sought-after trophy species, is now present in introduced landlocked populations in the United States. The white perch, a mostly brackish water species of the Atlantic seaboard, is a popular food fish (Etnier and Starnes, 1993).

Because of their desirability as sport fishes, moronids have been widely transplanted outside their native ranges (Etnier and Starnes, 1993; Jenkins and Burkhead, 1994; Ross, 2001; Boschung and Mayden, 2004). The production and stocking of artificial hybrids of these species has become an important management tool in controlling forage populations in reservoirs and production of sport food fish (White, 2000).

Adult characters of this family include: a laterally compressed, deep body; a skull somewhat elevated and strongly ossified, with lateral canals at least partially enclosed in bone; well-developed jaws, armed with numerous teeth; maxillary expanded posteriorly; opercle usually with 2 flat spines; branchiostegal rays: 7; dorsal fin separated into two distinct sections, which may be slightly connected at base, the first section with 8–10 spines, the second with 1 spine and 10–13 soft rays; anal fin with 3 spines and 9–12 soft rays; thoracic pelvic fins with 1 spine and 5 rays and no axillary process; ctenoid scales; lateral line well developed and complete, extends well onto caudal fin; 24 or more vertebrae (Scott and Crossman, 1973; Boschung and Mayden, 2004).

TAXONOMY AND SYSTEMATICS OF FAMILY MORONIDAE

Temperate basses were formerly considered a part of the family Serranidae, a large and poorly defined group of fishes called the sea basses. Gosline (1966) attempted to provide a more rational grouping for the temperate basses and allied them with the family Percichthyidae; however, many considered the relationship of temperate basses with other groups unclear. Johnson (1984) recommended treating them as a separate family within the order Perciformes. Other authors retain temperate basses in Percichthyidae (e.g., Robins et al., 1991), but the recent consensus has been to follow Johnson (1984), who restricts Percichthyidae to groups in South America and Australia and resurrects Moronidae to include the genus Morone. For many years, the genera Lepibema Rafinesque and Roccus Mitchell were recognized for certain species now assigned to Morone, but Morone is the oldest name (Whitehead and Wheeler, 1966) and thus has priority (Scott and Crossman, 1973; Ross, 2001; Boschung and Mayden, 2004). Nelson (1994) places Moronidae in the order Perciformes, series Percomorpha, superorder Acanthopterygii.

Excellent regional keys are available for distinguishing adults of the four Morone species in the United States. However, white and striped bass have been artificially hybridized and introduced over much of the United States (Etnier and Starnes, 1993; Jenkins and Burkhead, 1994; Boschung and Mayden, 2004) and natural hybridization among the four species apparently occurs. Hybrids of white bass and yellow bass have been reported in TX (Fries and Harvey, 1989), white bass with white perch in Lake Erie (Boileau, 1985; Todd, 1986), and possibly white bass with striped bass in AR (Crawford et al., 1984) and VA (Jenkins and Burkhead, 1994).

The assorted phenotypes of hybrids and natural backcrosses between hybrids make them difficult to distinguish from parental species (Muoneke et al., 1991; Etnier and Starnes, 1993; Storey et al., 2000; Boschung and Mayden, 2004). White bass and hybrids are especially difficult to distinguish using morphometric and meristic data. In view of the uncertainty in discrimination, some authors have recommended that management strategies and fishing regulations be set for Morone spp. fisheries rather than for individual forms or species, especially in water containing white bass and hybrids (Muoneke et al., 1991).

LITERATURE CITED

Boileau, M.G. 1985.

Boschung, H.T., Jr. and R.L. Mayden. 2004.

Crawford, T. et al. 1984.

Etnier, D.A. and W.C. Starnes. 1993.

Fries, L.T. and W.D. Harvey. 1989.

Gosline, W.A. 1966.

Jenkins, R.E. and N.M. Burkhead. 1994.

Johnson, G.D. 1984.

Muoneke, M.I. et al. 1991.

Nelson, J.S. 1994.

Nelson, J.S. et al. 2004.

Robins, C.R. et al. 1991.

Ross, S.T. 2001.

Scott, W.B. and E.J. Crossman. 1973.

Storey, K.W. et al. 2000.

Todd, T.N. 1986.

Whi...