White bass use their lateral line systems to detect water movement and rely on vision and sensing chemical cues. Little is known about interspecific communication in this species.
Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; chemical
White bass are easily preyed upon by many carnivorous fish species, including other white bass.
Known Predators:
The maximum length of Morone chrysops is about 46 cm (18 inches) and the maximum weight reaches around 3.2 kg (7 pounds). White bass are silvery gray fish with the belly and breast region being lighter (silver to white) and the dorsal region silver to black in color. They exhibit numerous narrow, uninterrupted, dark colored lines along their sides which are sometimes incomplete below the lateral line. They have a protruding lower mandible and the mouth extends to the middle of the eye. White bass have been recorded to be around 212 mm total length at one year, 364 mm at two years, 401 mm at three, and 426 mm at four. Females become larger than males on average.
Characteristics that enable more precise identification of the species include a lateral line count of 51 to 60 scales. Dorsal fin rays number 12 to 14 anal fin rays 11 to 13. This species has 20 to 25 gill rakers and its pectoral fins have 15 to 17 fin rays. Near the tip of the tongue, white bass have a noticeable tooth patch that lies in one fused or two barely separate areas of the tongue.
Range mass: 3.2 (high) kg.
Range length: 460 (high) mm.
Other Physical Features: ectothermic ; heterothermic ; bilateral symmetry
Sexual Dimorphism: female larger
Morone chrysops exhibits rapid growth in conjunction with high natural mortality, resulting in a relatively short life. Although maturity is fairly similar in northern and southern populations, lifespan is not. Northern fish, on average, live longer than southern fish. 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.
White bass are principally found in large bodies of water (i.e., deep lakes and unmuddied rivers). Reservoir systems have been shown to house higher populations compared to natural lakes and rivers. This species prefers areas of open water with little turbidity and where the substrate is clean and unvegetated. Lower abundances of white bass have shown to be in direct correlation with increasing amounts of vegetation.
Habitat Regions: temperate ; freshwater
Aquatic Biomes: lakes and ponds; rivers and streams
Morone chrysops (white bass) can be seen in many parts of North America. Its range extends from southern Canada to northeastern Mexico following a path roughly between the Mississippi River system and the Appalachian Mountains. Notable abundance of the species is located primarily in the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio River drainages. Historically, it was found only in the Great Lakes and Mississippi River drainages, but it has been widely introduced outside of these areas.
Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native )
Larval white bass feed mostly on zooplankton, especially Daphnia species. As development proceeds, juveniles begin feeding on macro-invertebrates, such as chironomid larvae (Chironomidae), mayfly larvae (Ephemeroptera), dragonfly larvae (Odonata), damselfly larvae (Zygoptera), bugs (Hemiptera), amphipods (Amphipoda), and crayfish (Cambaridae). Adults, or fish over 350 mm, become highly piscivorous and begin feeding upon fish. Common prey includes, fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas), johnny darters (Etheostoma nigrum), gizzard shad (Dorosoma cepedianum), threadfin shad (Dorosoma petenense), young sunfish (Centrarchidae), yellow perch (Perca flavescens), saugers (Sander canadensis), freshwater drum (Aplodinotus grunniens), carp (Cyprinus carpio carpio), bullhead species (Ameiurus), and others. When feeding, schools of white bass prey upon schools of feeder fish (various shad and minnow), causing the small, feeder fish to splash wildly at the surface as they try to escape. Anglers calle this the "jumps." Up to 4 peaks in daily feeding activity can occur, but this varies seasonally.
Animal Foods: fish; insects; aquatic crustaceans; zooplankton
Primary Diet: carnivore (Piscivore )
White bass are important as intermediate predators in the ecosystems in which they live, they are food for larger fish and other predators.
There is renewed angling interest in white bass. Their vigor when hooked has led to increasing popularity. They are also a popular food for consumption.
Positive Impacts: food
There are no known adverse effects of Morone chrysops on humans.
White bass eggs hatch about two days after fertilization. The young larvae quickly begin to show the schooling behavior seen in adults.
Not listed on any conservation lists, white bass are abundant where they occur. Unlike other species that may have minimum size limits and creel limits, many states do not impose size or creel limits for white bass caught inside their waterways. Of the states that do impose creel limits, they are typically very liberal. One potential problem with white bass populations is high variation of recruitment from year to year. The problem seems to revolve around the amount of precipitation for that year, but this has not been confirmed.
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: no special status
State of Michigan List: no special status
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern
River-dwelling white bass migrate upstream in search of tributaries to spawn, while lake-dwelling individuals search out stream inlets and shoreline to lay their eggs. As a female disperses her eggs, many males follow behind releasing their sperm with the intention of fertilizing as many of the eggs as possible. No elaborate courtship displays are practiced and no nests are built. Once spawning has taken place, breeding individuals return to deeper water.
Mating System: polyandrous
Spawning of Morone chrysops occurs as early as mid-February in the southern United States and as late as May in the more northern latitudes, or whenever water temperatures reach about 14-20 degrees celsius. White bass are polyandrous, and each female can lay up to and even over half a million eggs. Once the adhesive eggs are laid, they settle to the bottom and attach to the substrate to await fertilization by the males. Hatching occurs about 2 days after fertilization, with growth of the young being quite rapid. Sexual maturity is reached around 2 years after hatching in more southerly populations, while northern populations can take a significantly longer time to mature.
Breeding interval: 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 gestation period: 2 days.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 2 years.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 2 years.
Key Reproductive Features: seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; fertilization (External ); broadcast (group) spawning; oviparous
Average gestation period: 2 days.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
Sex: male: 730 days.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
Sex: female: 1095 days.
White bass do not invest parental care beyond laying the eggs. Once they migrate to spawning grounds and the eggs are laid and fertilized, the adults abandon the eggs and return to deeper water to leave their offspring forcing them to fend for themselves.
Parental Investment: no parental involvement; pre-fertilization (Provisioning, Protecting: Female)
The white bass, silver bass, or sand bass (Morone chrysops) is a freshwater fish of the temperate bass family Moronidae. commonly around 12-15 inches long. The species' main color is silver-white to pale green. Its back is dark, with white sides and belly, and with narrow dark stripes running lengthwise on its sides. It has large, rough scales and two dorsal fins. They are widely distributed across North America, inhabiting large reservoirs and rivers. When mating in the spring, they are more often found in shallow rivers, creeks, and streams. They have been introduced in some places as sport fish and also to predate on nuisance fish, such as gizzard shad. It is the state fish of Oklahoma.
White bass are distributed widely across the United States, especially in the Midwest. They are very abundant in Pennsylvania and the area around Lake Erie. Some native ranges of the white bass are the Arkansas River, western Lake Erie, the Detroit River, and Lake Poinsett in South Dakota; they are abundant in the Winnebago lakes system of Wisconsin; and they are also very abundant in Oklahoma.[2] White bass have also been found in rivers that flow to the Mississippi. Native to many northern habitats, they have been introduced in many different waters around the United States, particularly in southern locations. They were also successfully introduced to Manitoba starting in the 1960s, where they have gained importance as a sport fish.
The species' main color is silver-white to pale green. Its back is dark, with white sides and belly, and with narrow dark stripes running lengthwise on its sides. It has large, rough scales and two dorsal fins. The more anterior dorsal fin is much harder and appears to have spines on them. Although these are not true spines, this type of fin is called a spinous ray. The more posterior of the two dorsal fins is much softer, and is thus called a soft-ray. Because the vertebrae do not extend into the tail, the white bass has what is called a homocercal tail. The body is deep and compressed laterally.[3] Most grow to a length between 10 and 12 inches (25 and 30 cm), though they can reach 17 inches (43 cm) or more. Because the dorsal and ventral portions of its tail angle inward toward a point to create a clear angle, the tail is said to be notched.
The record size for white bass caught on fishing tackle is 6 pounds 13 ounces (3.1 kg) shared by fish caught in 1989 in Orange Lake, Orange, Virginia, and in 2010 in Amite River, Louisiana.[4]
White bass are carnivores. They have four main taxa in their diet: calanoid copepods, cyclopoid copepods, daphnia, and leptodora.[5] They are visual feeders. When not frightened, they will bite readily at live bait such as worms and minnows. Only the largest fish will feed on other fish, and as the summer season progresses, there is an overall trend towards eating fewer fish.[5] Fish that are able to accumulate lipids over the summer are better able to survive cold winters. When looking at midwestern white bass, particularly in South Dakota, diet overlap occurs between the bass and the walleye. As seasons progress through the summer and fall, the amount of diet overlap decreases as a result of both fish increasing in length.[6]
White bass are found in high densities in the upstream segment of rivers. This portion of the river becomes the most degraded, as a number of different kinds of fish live in this segment, as well.[7][8]
The spawning season for the white bass is mid-March to late May. The optimal water temperatures are 12 to 20 °C (54 to 68 °F). They are known to find their home spawning ground even if it is moved to a different part of the same lake.[9] They often spawn in moving water in a tributary stream, but they will spawn in windswept lake shores.[9] They spawn during daylight. Females release 242,000 to 933,000 eggs which stick to the surface of objects.[9] Eggs are laid in clear, relatively shallow water on plants, submerged logs, gravel, or rocks.[10] The parents move to deeper water and do not care for the young fish. The young fish live in shallow water for a while until they move to deeper water.[9]
When trying to find a female with whom to mate, males will bump against a female's abdominal area. The female will then rise closer to the surface and begin spinning and releasing eggs. Several males that have stayed in the area will be able to fertilize the eggs the female releases.[11]
White bass have also been hybridized with striped bass to produce hybrid striped bass also known as wiper, whiterock bass, sunshine bass, palmetto bass, and Cherokee bass. These hybrids have been stocked in many freshwater areas across the US.[12][13]
The white bass, silver bass, or sand bass (Morone chrysops) is a freshwater fish of the temperate bass family Moronidae. commonly around 12-15 inches long. The species' main color is silver-white to pale green. Its back is dark, with white sides and belly, and with narrow dark stripes running lengthwise on its sides. It has large, rough scales and two dorsal fins. They are widely distributed across North America, inhabiting large reservoirs and rivers. When mating in the spring, they are more often found in shallow rivers, creeks, and streams. They have been introduced in some places as sport fish and also to predate on nuisance fish, such as gizzard shad. It is the state fish of Oklahoma.
