Spotted bass Micropterus punctulatus (Rafinesque 1819)

Three subspecies of Spotted Bass Micropterus punctulatus were historically recognized: the smaller Northern Spotted Bass M. p. punctulatus, the larger, longer-lived Alabama Spotted Bass M. p. henshalli, and the now invalidated Wichita Spotted Bass M. p. wichitae (Bailey and Hubbs 1940; Cofer 1995; Warren 2009; Rider and Maceina 2015, this volume). The subspecific status has been examined over the past decade as advanced genetic analyses have been developed (e.g., Kassler et al. 2002; Baker et al. 2008; Tringali et al. 2015, this volume). The American Fisheries Society has recently changed the designation of the Alabama Spotted Bass to a separate species, Alabama Bass M. henshalli (Page et al. 2013). The remainder of this paper will discuss the biology and conservation of only Spotted Bass. Both species have been observed to hybridize with other Micropterus spp. (Koppelman 1994; Pierce and Van Den Avyle 1997; Barwick et al. 2006).