Basses of Missouri
There are three categories of "basses" in Missouri:
1) Temperate basses (white perch, and white, yellow and striped bass)—in the genus Morone and in the "temperate basses" or "true basses" family;
2) Black basses (largemouth, spotted and smallmouth bass)—in the genus Micropterus, in the sunfish family; and
3) Rock basses (Ozark bass, shadow bass and northern rock bass)—in the genus Ambloplites, also in the sunfish family.
Temperate basses in Missouri are silvery, moderately deep and slab-sided fishes, usually with prominent horizontal dark streaks along the sides; the dorsal fins are separate or only slightly connected; the 1st dorsal has 9 stiff spines.
Black basses and rock basses are types of sunfishes, with deep, flattened bodies; the dorsal fin has a forward, spiny-rayed part and a rear, soft-rayed part that are broadly connected in most species.
