The conservation status of the shoal bass is currently vulnerable throughout its range. However, the shoal bass is still thriving in the Flint River in good numbers, the Chattahoochee River drainage, and lakes such as West Point and Lake Blackshear. The shoal bass numbers are decreasing in the Chipola River and Apalachicola river systems because competition with non-native spotted bass has increased. The Chattahoochee River, Flint river drainages, and the Ocmulgee River are the most common places to catch shoal bass in Georgia. The shoal bass is most known for being in the Apalachicola, Chipola River, and Flint Rivers. The native range of shoal bass is the Apalachicola drainage of Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. The main difference between a shoal bass and a largemouth bass is the size of their mouth a largemouth bass’s mouth will reach its eye, whereas the mouth of a shoal bass does not. Shoal bass have a dark spot, whereas smallmouth bass does not. The dark spot on a shoal bass is the most significant distinction between them and a smallmouth. Sometimes the vertical stripes on shoal bass can confuse them with smallmouth and have no relation to the snakehead fish. The shoal bass has scales on the base portion of the soft-rayed dorsal fins, clearly connected first and second dorsal fins, and an upper jaw bone that does not extend beyond the eyes. Pelvic fins may have a cream-colored leading edge with dark spots. The dorsal, caudal, and anal fins are dark olive green to grayish black. In addition, 10-15 vertical stripes and dark blotches appear along the sides, with tiger stripes often appearing in between.Īdult shoal bass is primarily dark olive green to black with creamy or white on the belly, and wavy lines may appear slightly above the white belly on the sides. Three diagonal black lines radiate along the side of the head, looking like war paint. A dusky dark blotch about 50-67 percent of the eye’s size occurs on the gill cover’s back edge. Shoal bass generally are dark olive-green to nearly black along the back. However, it is more closely related to the spotted bass morphologically. At first glance, the red-eyed eyes associate this species with the redeye and Suwannee bass.
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