05-02-2013, 05:04 AM
In the past, I used to be more obsessed with bass genetics lol. According to "Mclane's New Standard Fishing Encyclopedia," the author states that a largemouth bass in addition to having different lateral line scale counts, should have no scales in in the tail fin membrane or the soft dorsal or anal fins. On the other hand, the spotted bass has definite scales in both tail fin and soft dorsal and anal fin membranes as well as teeth on the 
. In my in depth empirical analyses to satiate my own curiosity, I have found that most bass in utah may have some hybridization with spotted bass genetics. The majority of bass in utah lake have scales in both tail membrane and soft dorsal and anal fins. However the color pattern is indicative of a pure lmb. Further, the mouth jawbone goes well beyond the eye which is a definite indicator of a pure lmb. Mantua lmb seem to be genetically different than other populations due to morphological differences as well as spawning temp differences. They do not seem to have spotted bass genetics. In the small ponds all over, the genetics are very similar to each other so someone must have, like a century or more ago, spread bass to every conceivable pond in utah they could get to. The ones up at Newton also don't have spotted bass characteristics but are genetically/morphologically dissimilar to those at Mantua. The biggest jaw genes are found at Utah Lake. Deer creek lmb have tiny mouths in comparison but no scaling on tail or soft dorsal interradial membranes. There used to be a huge population of bass at the Hilton pond at the airport area that looked like spotted bass but the jaw went past the eye in most specimens I did find hyoid teeth on the on a fish from there. Plus the flanks were spotted in lines. Pure lmb have irregularly places black spots below the lateral line dark stripe. These bass are gone due to draining and rebuilding of the pond so no more there to look at.
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. In my in depth empirical analyses to satiate my own curiosity, I have found that most bass in utah may have some hybridization with spotted bass genetics. The majority of bass in utah lake have scales in both tail membrane and soft dorsal and anal fins. However the color pattern is indicative of a pure lmb. Further, the mouth jawbone goes well beyond the eye which is a definite indicator of a pure lmb. Mantua lmb seem to be genetically different than other populations due to morphological differences as well as spawning temp differences. They do not seem to have spotted bass genetics. In the small ponds all over, the genetics are very similar to each other so someone must have, like a century or more ago, spread bass to every conceivable pond in utah they could get to. The ones up at Newton also don't have spotted bass characteristics but are genetically/morphologically dissimilar to those at Mantua. The biggest jaw genes are found at Utah Lake. Deer creek lmb have tiny mouths in comparison but no scaling on tail or soft dorsal interradial membranes. There used to be a huge population of bass at the Hilton pond at the airport area that looked like spotted bass but the jaw went past the eye in most specimens I did find hyoid teeth on the on a fish from there. Plus the flanks were spotted in lines. Pure lmb have irregularly places black spots below the lateral line dark stripe. These bass are gone due to draining and rebuilding of the pond so no more there to look at.[signature]