Do "Mediummouths" really exsist?

Are they real? Do smallmouths ever spawn with largemouths? I understand it that largemouths like sunken trees and vegetation, while smallies tend towards rocks and docks are were the two might meet up. Also, I might add, is it true that smallies are more crazy and aggressive and cold water loving than largies?

I believe this is a rare hybrid, likely what you are referring to is the spotted bass.

This type of a hybrid between a largemouth and a smallmouth is very rare, I think a smallmouth X spotted bass hybrid would be much more likely since they are much more genetically similar and have more similarities in habitat preferences. It is true that largemouth will put up with warmer temperatures and more sluggish shallow vegetation filled waters. Smallmouth do prefer rocky, cool, and either deep or flowing waters. There are actually 7 or more species of Micropterus (or Black Bass) not just largemouth and smallmouth. There are many rivers where smallmouth, largemouth, and spotted bass occur together but smallmouth will be found in the fastest flowing rocky areas largemouth in the still backwater areas around vegetation if available, and spotted bass are typically in long slow but flowing deep pools. Also smallmouth do fight harder and are more acrobatic when hooked than largemouth. Actually I think all 4 of the species I have caught hook and line (other than largemouth) are better fighters than largemouth.

Black bass interspecies hybrids I am familiar with,

Largemouth x smallmouth and smallmouth x largemouth both documented and investigated to a limited degree. Both hybrids collectively referred to as "meanmouths" by the workers I know of. Early efforts where to investigate hybrids for recreational fisheries. Later works in aquaculture potentially for food-fish.

Spotted bass are an invasive in the Meramac River drainage of eastern Missouri. As the spotted bass expands it occasional hybridizes with the smallmouth. Animals I though were hybrid appeared to have a copper or maroon (sometimes described as dull pink) background coloration. The spotted bass is expanded at the expense of the smallmouth but much of the habitat appears to me to be more consistent with quality spotted bass rather than quality smallmouth bass habitat. All three forms caused me aggrevations when pursuing crayfishes.

I have crossed spotted (SB) and largemouth basses (LMB). Mating occured only when the intended dam (female parent) was SB. The other cross viable when made manually. Hybrids (FI) were fertile but offspring of F1 x F1 had very low survival and many (most) were cretens. Female F1's would backcross to either parental species with offspring produced in good numbers and those offspring appeared normal. Male F1's, not investigated as much but they did appear to have problems picking up chicks (SB and LMB).


I once had a parental male SB bass (relatively small one ~ 11 inches) bite my face as I collected pro-larvae from his nest but the SB x LMB males were consistently more agressive than even that oddball SB. Parental SB x LMB tending nest they would even challenge me as a walked on the pond levee past the nest area. The great blue herons took advantage until I put up bird netting. The hybrids proved to be wonderfull experimental animals I think in part because of their aggresiveness that enabled easy training to hand feeding.

So, they can? Cool, but are the resulting offspring sterile?

So, they can? Cool, but are the resulting offspring sterile?

F1 SB x LMB fertile
F1 SMB x LMB fertile
F1 SMB x SB fertile

As you probably know you can cross just about any centrarchid in the lab and most, especially within the the same genus, produce fertile hybrids but potential fertility does not always translate into realized fertility. Beyond what can be forced in a lab, I have seen green sunfish x central longear hybrids that are quite fertile when their sperm is used to fertilize handstripped eggs, yet totally unable to get females of green sunfish or central longear sunfish to place eggs in their nest. The F1 hybrid males, a bit larger, totally dominated the pure males of both species nesting in the same colony.

"Male F1's, not investigated as much but they did appear to have problems picking up chicks." Made me laugh.

Ever hear of hybrids like the Blood Parrot Cichlid? If by cretens, you mean deformed, then the blood parrot is a perfect example of one. The have deformed mouths, heads, eyes, and backbones. The are really cool, kinda mean to each other and have squabbles over nothing, though. My friend has a school in his somewhat 55 gallon native tank as dithers for his channel catfish (Both are albinos) and his menagrie of sunnie species and hybrids. These aren't his, but good examples:

Ever hear of hybrids like the Blood Parrot Cichlid? If by cretens, you mean deformed, then the blood parrot is a perfect example of one. The have deformed mouths, heads, eyes, and backbones. The are really cool, kinda mean to each other and have squabbles over nothing, though. My friend has a school in his somewhat 55 gallon native tank as dithers for his channel catfish (Both are albinos) and his menagrie of sunnie species and hybrids. These aren't his, but good examples:

Yes. Some of the deformities with F2 (SB x LMB) were similar although with the creten bass the abnormalities were not as consistent as with the parrot (F1 (severum x midas)?) cichlids.

The agressiveness of some hybrids is interesting and maybe part of what is behind hybrid vigor in some crosses. The aggressive fish seem to eat more and eating more is consistently an attribute of faster growing animals.

Some of the hybrids seem conflicted in terms of behavior. Several years back I had some ponds with F1 green sunfish x bluegill. Most of the fish were male but reproduction did take place although not much successfully. The males placed their nest close together like bluegill but seemed to periodically want a territory (several male body lengths in diameter) like a green sunfish, especially when ripe females approached. When a female entered a nest and began spawning several neighboring males would rush in, some apparently fertilizing eggs and others either attacking everyone else or consuming eggs. After a couple days of spawning only a few males still had developing offspring and many of those could be found in low numbers in abandoned nest. I never saw such a mess with bluegill or green sunfish.

Totally unrelated to fish, but my dad's friend has an aviary full of parrots. He has two lovebirdsd that are blackmasked x peachfaced. They have troubles with mating, and they can't figure out how to carry matierials. Peach-faced shred nesting matierials and stick it in their feathers, black-masked carry it in their mouths. These two hybrids are really confused because they simply shred stuff and not put it in their feathers. He had to hand-raise one of their offspring (The two are siblings, these babies were three-fourths peach-faced and one-fourth black-masked). Then there are hybrids that aren't really hybrids. I own a dog who is part wolf, and wolves and dogs are the same species, so therefore, my dog is just like any other mutt, not a hybrid. But people constantly tell me, 'Dude, his wolf side wants to run free!' Sorry to say, his "wolf side" only controls appearance, not what he wants. I even had a friend of my cousin tell me not to take up native fish, because they want to 'swim free and wild'
Sorry, I ramble
:idea: But, what if these creten bass were produced by a Hong Kong or Tawain company, injected with glow in the dark jellyfish genes, and sold as Glow Bass? Who wants a Glow Bass? God, I shudder on the day that happens!

blood parreots are kinda gross