Alabama Spotted Bass, new species

[Carl Guffey]

<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%"><font face="Calibri">BASS: August 2010</font></span></p><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%"><font face="Calibri"></font></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%"><font face="Calibri">The Alabama spot or”Coosa” spotted bass has been designated as a species of Micropterus family and not a sub-species: Micropterus Henshalii, The paper work was submitted by a research fellow at Auburn University, Dr. Steve Sammons. </font></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%"><font face="Calibri" /></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%"><font face="Calibri">

<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%"><font face="Calibri">Noted in the article was the elimination of the Trophy Smallmouth fishery in Lake Chatuge in North Georgia. Sammons warns “These things have been stocked outside their range a lot; it’s becoming a plague.”emoScratch </font></span></p></font></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%"><font face="georgia,palatino"><font size="2">It will be interesting to see if this has any effect on the new Tennessee State Spot record. We may potentially have two spotted bass records since there was a DNA test on the fish.</font></font></span></p>

 

[jim4596]

next to a peacock bass, a coosa spot is one of the meanest bass.
coosa's are my favorite to catch, especially the big ones.

 

[Hoggsnatcher]

dont know what is a big Coosa ...but i know anything over 3 lb is a blast...you gotta love to catch some Coosa River Spots....WHEEEEEEE

 

[fishinvol]

Yep, the Coosa spots are as mean as any fish I've come across in freshwater ( for thier size). They never give up either.

 

[elwestb]

I noticed that in the new Bassmaster issue that the Bass Slam is now 9 species where as it was 7.

 

[heath j]

Here's the report on a Coosa I caught in the Ocoee back in the winter that was just off the state record.
http://www.chattanoogafishingforum.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=39970&posts=17

 

[Carl Guffey]

<font face="georgia,palatino"><font size="2">The new species is the "Alabama" Spotted bass which are of the home waters of the Coosa River not the Redeye bass. Which are currently endangered due to loss of habitat and cross hybridization by the "Alabama" spotted bass. The new species is <font face="georgia,palatino">Micropterus Henshalii, which was once considered a sub-species of the Northern or Micropterus Punctulatus bass.</font></font></font></p>

<font face="georgia,palatino" size="2"><font color="#0645ad">M. cataractae</font> - shoal bass
<font color="#0645ad">M. coosae</font> - redeye bass
<font color="#0645ad">M. dolomieu</font> - smallmouth bass
<font color="#0645ad">M. notius</font> - Suwannee bass
<font color="#0645ad">M. punctulatus</font> - spotted bass
<font color="#0645ad">M. salmoides</font> - largemouth bass
<font color="#0645ad">M. treculii</font> - Guadalupe bass</font></p>

<font face="Georgia"><font size="2">I will have to say that I miss spoke calling them a "coosa" bass. I am old school and the big spots from Alabama were often denoted as "Coosa" spots because the best ones came from the Coosa River watershed. The current world record is from California and is over 10 lbs., the current Tennessee Spotted bass record is 5 lbs. 8 ozs and was DNA proven to be a <font face="georgia,palatino">Micropterus Henshalii.</font></font></font></p>

 

[Hoggsnatcher]

So does this mean there are no Coosa Spots? Just spotted bass that live in the Coosa River which is the same spotted bass that live in other rivers ?

 

[Hoggsnatcher]

Ok Carl you have fried my brain...or mabe i fried it by over thinking this....really a confused dude right now...because if a spot is a spot then that means a largemouth is a ......never mind emoScratch emoBang

 

[Carl Guffey]

<font face="georgia,palatino" size="2">There is the spotted bass, Micropterus Punctulatus which is commonly referred to as the Northern spotted bass. The "Alabama" or southern spot was considered a sub-species and was a part of the Micropterus Punctulatus family. Now, the fish with the tremendous growth rates (The Alabama Spot)is going to be calledMicropterus Henshalii and will be a separate species just like a Smallmouth bass, Suwannee bass, or a Guadalupe bass.</font></p>

<font face="Georgia" size="2">There arethree types of bass in the Coosa River.<font color="#0645ad">Micropterus salmoides</font>; the largemouth,<font color="#0645ad">Micropterus coosae</font>: the redeye, and <font color="#3399ff">Micropterus Henshalii</font>; the spotted bass, in addition there may be a fourth type<font color="#0645ad">Micropterus cataractae</font> - shoal bass. All of these fish have a similar body but they aredivided by the type of water they normally inhabit and their growth rates.</font></p>