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The smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) is a species of freshwater fish in the sunfish family ( Centrarchidae) of order Perciformes. It is the type species of its genus. One of the black basses, it is native to a wide area throughout eastern North AmericaNorth America is the third largest continent in area and the fourth ranked in population. It is bounded on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the south by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific Ocea, encompassing the upper and middle Mississippi RiverThis page is about the river in the United States; for other uses, see Mississippi River (disambiguation). The Mississippi River is the second-longest river in the United States; the longest is the Missouri River, which flows into the Mississippi. Taken t basin, the Saint Lawrence RiverThe Saint Lawrence River (French fleuve Saint-Laurent is a large west-to-east flowing river in the middle latitudes of North America, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. It was called Kaniatarowanenneh ("big waterway") in Mohawk. It bisect– Great LakesThe Great Lakes are a group of five large lakes on or near the United States- Canadian border. They are the largest group of fresh water lakes in the world, and the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence system is the largest fresh-water system in the world. They are s system, and up into the Hudson BayHudson Bay is a large body of water in northeastern Canada. It drains a large portion of the northern areas of Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba and the southeastern area of Nunavut. A smaller offshoot of the bay, James Bay, lies to the south. The placename us basin.
There smallmouth bass is marked by is a series of dark bars on the sides, and its upper jaw does not extend past the eye. It grows to a maximum recorded overall length of 69 cm (27 inAn inch is an Imperial unit of length. Sweden also briefly had a "decimal inch" based on the metric system: see below for more. According to some sources, the inch was originally defined informally as the distance between the tip of the thumb and the firs), weighing up to 5.4 kg (12 lb). Specimens have been recorded living up to 26 years.
M. dolomieu is found only in clear water, preferring shallow, rocky-bottomed areas of lakes and rivers. Because it is relatively intolerant of any type of pollution, the smallmouth bass is a good natural indicator of a healthy environment. Carnivorous, its diet comprises crayfish, insects, and smaller fish, the young also feeding on zooplankton.
The female can lay up to 21,000 eggs which are guarded by the male in his nest.
One of the world's most popular gamefish , the smallmouth bass is stocked in rivers and lakes throughout the United States, and has been introduced in many countries, sometimes with adverse effects on native fish populations.
