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College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences

CFAES

Largemouth Bass

        Largemouth Bass

Largemouth Bass

Largemouth bass have been propagated with little or no genetic control since the 1970’s. There are two recognized subspecies of largemouth bass: the Northern largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides salmoides, and the southern Florida largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides floridanus, which can only be distinguished through genetic testing. While there may be differences in growth between the two subspecies, the Florida LMB have been shown to have poor winter survival in the North Central Region (NCR). Therefore, there is a technical need for improvement and development of broodstocks with traits amenable to commercial-scale aquaculture in the NCR through strain evaluation, and genetic breeding and selection. Genetic and growth evaluation of different populations of LMB is the first step to developing a genetic improvement program.

Research focuses:

  •  Quantify genetic variation of different wild and cultured strains.
  •  Identify the best genetically distinct populations for fast growth.
  •  Evaluate different populations to identify the optimal source population.
  •  Genetic improvement of largemouth bass broodstocks.