Disclaimer:

The Nonindigenous Occurrences section of the NAS species profiles has a new structure. The section is now dynamically updated from the NAS database to ensure that it contains the most current and accurate information. Occurrences are summarized in Table 1, alphabetically by state, with years of earliest and most recent observations, and the tally and names of drainages where the species was observed. The table contains hyperlinks to collections tables of specimens based on the states, years, and drainages selected. References to specimens that were not obtained through sighting reports and personal communications are found through the hyperlink in the Table 1 caption or through the individual specimens linked in the collections tables.




Morone chrysops
Morone chrysops
(White Bass)
Fishes
Native Transplant

Copyright Info
Morone chrysops (Rafinesque, 1820)

Common name: White Bass

Taxonomy: available through www.itis.govITIS logo

Identification: Becker (1983); Page and Burr (1991); Etnier and Starnes (1993); Jenkins and Burkhead (1994).

Size: 45 cm.

Native Range: St. Lawrence-Great Lakes, Hudson Bay (Red River), and Mississippi River basins from Quebec to Manitoba and south to Louisiana (Page and Burr 1991). Widespread throughout the Ohio and Mississippi drainages, the Great Lakes region, and southward to the Red River Basin (Hubbs et al. 1991).

Native range data for this species provided in part by NatureServe NS logo
Hydrologic Unit Codes (HUCs) Explained
Interactive maps: Point Distribution Maps

Nonindigenous Occurrences:

Table 1. States with nonindigenous occurrences, the earliest and latest observations in each state, and the tally and names of HUCs with observations†. Names and dates are hyperlinked to their relevant specimen records. The list of references for all nonindigenous occurrences of Morone chrysops are found here.

StateFirst ObservedLast ObservedTotal HUCs with observations†HUCs with observations†
AL1949202130Apalachicola Basin; Black Warrior-Tombigbee; Cahaba; Choctawhatchee; Coosa-Tallapoosa; Escambia; Lower Alabama; Lower Black Warrior; Lower Chattahoochee; Lower Conecuh; Lower Coosa; Lower Tallapoosa; Lower Tombigbee; Middle Alabama; Middle Chattahoochee-Lake Harding; Middle Chattahoochee-Walter F; Middle Coosa; Middle Tallapoosa; Middle Tombigbee-Chickasaw; Middle Tombigbee-Lubbub; Mobile-Tensaw; Mulberry; Perdido; Sipsey Fork; Upper Alabama; Upper Black Warrior; Upper Choctawhatchee; Upper Conecuh; Upper Coosa; Upper Tallapoosa
AZ196020126Agua Fria; Big Sandy; Lower Colorado; Lower Colorado Region; Lower Salt; Middle Gila
AR189419883Dardanelle Reservoir; McKinney-Posten Bayous; Spring
CA189520025California Region; Imperial Reservoir; Sacramento Headwaters; Salinas; Santa Ana
CO1948202310Big Thompson; Horse; Middle South Platte-Cherry Creek; Middle South Platte-Sterling; Piedra; Republican; South Fork Republican; South Platte; Upper Arkansas; Upper Arkansas-John Martin Reservoir
DE188818881Brandywine-Christina
FL195719967Apalachicola; Escambia; Lower Chattahoochee; Lower Ochlockonee; Lower St. Johns; St. Marys; Upper St. Johns
GA1951199813Conasauga; Coosawattee; Etowah; Middle Chattahoochee-Lake Harding; Middle Flint; Ocoee; South Atlantic-Gulf Region; Tugaloo; Upper Chattahoochee; Upper Coosa; Upper Ocmulgee; Upper Oconee; Upper Savannah
IL201320183Chicago; Des Plaines; Little Calumet-Galien
IN198119811Upper Wabash
IA198719974Big Papillion-Mosquito; Blackbird-Soldier; Keg-Weeping Water; Little Sioux
KS1945200321Fall; Independence-Sugar; Lower Big Blue; Lower North Fork Solomon; Lower Republican; Lower Saline; Lower Smoky Hill; Lower South Fork Solomon; Medicine Lodge; Middle Kansas; Middle Republican; Middle Smoky Hill; Ninnescah; North Fork Ninnescah; Solomon; South Fork Ninnescah; Upper Cimarron-Bluff; Upper Kansas; Upper North Fork Solomon; Upper Smoky Hill; Upper South Fork Solomon
KY195419863Lower Kentucky; Rolling Fork; South Fork Licking
LA198620182Calcasieu-Mermentau; Lower Sabine
MD197919791Youghiogheny
MI198020242Dead-Kelsey; Detroit
MN197520226Bois De Sioux; Lake Superior; Otter Tail; Red; St. Louis; Twin Cities
MS197619761Middle Pearl-Strong
MO1975201610Beaver Reservoir; Bull Shoals Lake; Current; Independence-Sugar; James; Little Chariton; North Fork White; Tarkio-Wolf; Upper Black; Upper St. Francis
MT198020103Charlie-Little Muddy; Lower Musselshell; Lower Yellowstone
NE1944201821Big Papillion-Mosquito; Frenchman; Harlan County Reservoir; Keg-Weeping Water; Lewis and Clark Lake; Loup; Lower Lodgepole; Lower North Platte; Lower Platte; Lower Sappa; Lower South Platte; Medicine; Middle North Platte-Scotts Bluff; Middle Platte-Buffalo; Middle Republican; Niobrara Headwaters; Upper Elkhorn; Upper Middle Loup; Upper Niobrara; Upper Republican; Upper White
NV198420245Carson Desert; Lower Humboldt; Middle Carson; Middle Humboldt; Truckee
NJ190319522Hackensack-Passaic; Mid-Atlantic Region
NM195719907Animas; Lower Pecos-Red Bluff Reservoir; Pecos Headwaters; Rio Grande-Santa Fe; Upper Canadian-Ute Reservoir; Upper Gila; Upper Gila-Mangas
NY198620052Lower Hudson; Upper Susquehanna
NC1959201915Haw; Lower Cape Fear; Lower Pee Dee; Lower Roanoke; Lower Yadkin; Middle Roanoke; Roanoke; Roanoke Rapids; Upper Broad; Upper Catawba; Upper French Broad; Upper Neuse; Upper Pee Dee; Upper Pee Dee; Upper Yadkin
ND1986200410Devils Lake; Lake Sakakawea; Lower Sheyenne; Middle Sheyenne; Red; Sandhill-Wilson; Upper Heart; Upper Lake Oahe; Upper Sheyenne; Willow
OH192519949Licking; Little Miami; Lower Great Miami, Indiana, Ohio; Mohican; Muskingum; Upper Great Miami, Indiana, Ohio; Upper Ohio-Shade; Upper Scioto; Upper Wabash
OK195420179Arkansas-White-Red Region; Blue-China; Cache; Deep Fork; Lower Canadian; Lower North Canadian; Lower Wolf; Northern Beaver; West Cache
PA189219958Allegheny; Bald Eagle; Lower Juniata; Lower Monongahela; Lower Susquehanna; Lower Susquehanna; Lower Susquehanna-Penns; Upper Ohio
PR197219721Eastern Puerto Rico
SC1952200914Carolina Coastal-Sampit; Cooper; Lake Marion; Lower Broad; Lower Catawba; Lower Pee Dee; Middle Savannah; Saluda; Santee; Seneca; Upper Broad; Upper Catawba; Upper Savannah; Wateree
SD1980202210Bois De Sioux; Fort Randall Reservoir; Lewis and Clark Lake; Lower Belle Fourche; Lower Big Sioux; Lower James; Lower Lake Oahe; Middle Big Sioux; Missouri Region; Upper Big Sioux
TN198019932Ocoee; Watauga, North Carolina, Tennessee
TX1932202391Amistad Reservoir; Austin-Oyster; Austin-Travis Lakes; Bois D'arc-Island; Bosque; Buchanan-Lyndon B. Johnson Lakes; Buffalo-San Jacinto; Caddo Lake; Cedar; Chambers; Cibolo; Cibolo-Red Light; Colorado Headwaters; Denton; East Fork San Jacinto; East Fork Trinity; East Galveston Bay; East Matagorda Bay; Elm Fork Trinity; Elm-Sycamore; Farmers-Mud; Hubbard; International Falcon Reservoir; Lake Fork; Lake Meredith; Lake O'the Pines; Lake Texoma; Lampasas; Leon; Little; Little Wichita; Los Olmos; Lower Angelina; Lower Brazos; Lower Brazos-Little Brazos; Lower Colorado; Lower Colorado; Lower Colorado-Cummins; Lower Frio; Lower Guadalupe; Lower Neches; Lower Nueces; Lower Pecos-Red Bluff Reservoir; Lower Rio Grande; Lower Sabine; Lower San Antonio; Lower Sulpher; Lower Trinity; Lower Trinity-Kickapoo; Lower Trinity-Tehuacana; Lower West Fork Trinity; Medina; Middle Brazos-Lake Whitney; Middle Brazos-Millers; Middle Brazos-Palo Pinto; Middle Colorado; Middle Colorado-Elm; Middle Guadalupe; Middle Neches; Middle Sabine; Navasota; Navidad; North Bosque; North Concho; North Galveston Bay; Palo Duro; Pecan Bayou; Pecos; Pine Island Bayou; Richland; Rio Grande-Fort Quitman; San Ambrosia-Santa Isabel; San Gabriel; South Concho; Spring; Toledo Bend Reservoir; Tule; Upper Angelina; Upper Clear Fork Brazos; Upper Colorado; Upper Guadalupe; Upper Neches; Upper North Fork Red; Upper Sabine; Upper Salt Fork Red; Upper Trinity; Upper West Fork Trinity; West Fork San Jacinto; White; Wichita; Yegua
UT195520245Jordan; Lower Bear-Malad; Lower Sevier; Provo; Utah Lake
VA1959201019Appomattox; James; Kanawha; Lower Chesapeake; Lower Dan; Middle Potomac-Anacostia-Occoquan; Middle Roanoke; North Fork Holston; Nottoway; Pamunkey; Potomac; Powell; Roanoke; Roanoke Rapids; South Fork Holston; Upper Clinch, Tennessee, Virginia; Upper Levisa; Upper New; Upper Roanoke
WA198019801Lower Cowlitz
WV198119958Big Sandy; Big Sandy; Little Kanawha; Little Muskingum-Middle Island; Middle New; Monongahela; Upper Kanawha; Upper Ohio-Wheeling
WI191920189Black; Lake Superior; Manitowoc-Sheboygan; Middle Rock; Red Cedar; St. Louis; Upper Fox; Upper Rock; Upper Wisconsin

Table last updated 12/8/2024

† Populations may not be currently present.


Means of Introduction: Intentionally stocked for sportfishing. In California, white bass were initially intentionally stocked for sport fishing in Lake Nacimiento, an area that was managed to support them and where they would not pose a threat to other vulnerable species. However, the fish mysteriously appeared in Lake Kaweah. Apparently the fish had been transported and stocked illegally. The fish then gained access to the Tulare Lake basin when Lake Kaweah flooded in 1982 and 1983 (Dill and Cordone 1997).

Status: The white bass has been reported as established locally in most areas, except in Delaware, where the species is known from a single record in 1888 and, presumably is extirpated (Raasch and Altemus 1991). Attempts to establish the species in the Youghiogheny River, Maryland and Pennsylvania, have failed (Hendricks et al. 1979, 1983).

Impact of Introduction: When stocked in the native range of the yellow bass Morone mississippiensis these two species hybridize (Fries and Harvey 1989). In Utah Lake, Utah, white bass dominate all other fish species; because they are so abundant they severely deplete the food supply (Sigler and Sigler 1987). Once white bass were in the Tulare Lake basin they could potentially reach the Delta region where several threatened and endangered fishes and important sport and commercial species could be at risk from this "voracious predator" (Dill and Cordone 1997). The state opted to conduct a chemical treatment to eradicate the bass from Lake Kaweah and downstream waters. This was one the most extensive chemical treatments ever conducted in the United States. The cost of the project was about $7.5 million (Dill and Cordone 1997). The state may need to spend several million dollars more to treat other lakes linked to the Delta. This has been a controversial issue and is still on hold due to the controversy and finances (Dill and Cordone 1997). There is now no limit to the number of white bass that may be kept by an angler. Regulations also make it illegal to possess or transport live white bass and require immediate killing of any retained fish or the immediate return of any unwanted fish into the water body from which it was taken (Dill and Cordone 1997).

Remarks: Dill and Cordone (1997) gave a fascinating account of the introduction of this species into California and the resulting fallout. This account is also a good illustration of how fish can be dispersed even when they are thought to be contained.

References: (click for full references)

Anonymous. 1994b. Fishes of the Dakotas. Brochure. American Fisheries Society Dakota Chapter, and North Dakota Game and Fish Department.

Bean, T. H. 1903. The food and game fishes of New York: notes on their common names, distribution, habits and mode of capture. J. B. Lyon Company, Albany, NY.

Boschung, H. T. 1992. Catalogue of freshwater and marine fishes of Alabama. Alabama Museum of Natural History Bulletin 14:1-266.

Boschung, H.T., Jr. and R.L. Mayden. 2004. Fishes of Alabama. Smithsonian Books, Washington.

Bouc, K. 1987. The fish book. Nebraskaland Magazine 65(1):1-130.

Burr, B. M., and M. L. Warren, Jr. 1986. A distributional atlas of Kentucky fishes. Kentucky Nature Preserves Commission Scientific and Technical Series 4. 398 pp.

Cooper, E.L. 1983. Fishes of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania State University Press. University Park, PA. 243 pp.

Cross, F. B. 1967. Handbook of Fishes of Kansas. State Biological Survey and University of Kansas Museum of Natural History, Miscellaneous Publication 45, Topeka, KS.

Dahlberg, M. D., and D. C. Scott. 1971b. Introductions of freshwater fishes in Georgia. Bulletin of the Georgia Academy of Science 29:245-252.

Dallmier, K. 2005. Queen City Lake fisheries management plan. Georgia Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Resources Division, Social Circle, GA.

Deacon, J. E., and J. E. Williams. 1984. Annotated list of the fishes of Nevada. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 97(1):103-118.

Denoncourt, R. F., T. B. Robbins, and R. Hesser. 1975a. Recent introductions and reintroductions to the Pennsylvania fish fauna of the Susquehanna River drainage above Conowingo Dam. Proceedings of the Pennsylvania Academy of Science 49:57-58.

Dill, W.A., and A.J. Cordone. 1997. History and status of introduced fishes in California, 1871-1996. Fish Bulletin 178. California Department of Fish and Game, Sacramento, CA. http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=kt8p30069f&brand=calisphere&doc.view=entire_text.

Ellis, M. M. 1974. Fishes of Colorado. University of Colorado Studies, Boulder, CO 11(1):1-136.

Erdsman, D.S.  1984.  Exotic fishes in Puerto Rico, p 162-176, In:  W.R.Jr. Courtenay and J.R.Jr. Stauffer, eds. Distribution, Biology, and Management of Exotic Fishes. John Hopkins. Baltimore and London.

Everhart, W. H., and W. R. Seaman. 1971. Fishes of Colorado. Colorado Game, Fish and Parks Division, Denver, CO. 75 pp.

Ford, H. C., H. C. Demuth, G. H. Welshons, S. B. Stillwel, L. Streuber, and W. L. Powell. 1892. Report of the Fish Commissioners for the years 1889-90-91. Pennsylvania Report of State Commissioners of Fisheries, Edwin K. Meyers, state printer, Harrisburg, PA. 19:1-156.

Fowler, H. W. 1906. The fishes of New Jersey. Pages 35-477 in Annual Report of the New Jersey State Museum (1905), part II. MacCrellish and Quigley, State Province, Trenton, NJ.

Fowler, H. W. 1952. A list of the fishes of New Jersey, with off-shore species. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia CIV:89-151.

Fries, L.T., and W.D. Harvey. 1989. Natural hybridization of white bass with yellow bass in Texas. Transactions American Fisheries Soceity 118(1):87-89.

Grabowski, S. J., S. D. Hiebert, and D. M. Lieberman. 1984. Potential for introduction of three species of nonnative fishes into central Arizona via the Central Arizona Project ? A literature review and analysis. REC-ERC-84-7. U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, Denver, CO.

Hendricks, M. L., J. R. Stauffer, Jr., C. H. Hocutt, and C. R. Gilbert. 1979. A preliminary checklist of the fishes of the Youghiogheny River. Chicago Academy of Sciences, Natural History Miscellanea 203:1-15.

Hocutt, C.H., R.E. Jenkins, and J.R. Stauffer, Jr. 1986 . Zoogeography of the Fishes of the Central Appalachians and Central Atlantic Coastal Plain. 161-212 in C.H. Hocutt and E.O. Wiley, eds. The Zoogeography of North American Freshwater Fishes. John Wiley and Sons, New York, NY.

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Jones, D. J. 1963. A history of Nebraska's fisheries resources. Dingell-Hohnson Federal Aid in Fish Restoration Project F-4-R Publication. Nebraska Game, Forestation and Parks Commission..

Koster, W. J. 1957. Guide to the fishes of New Mexico. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, NM.

Kraai, J. E., W. P. Provine, and J. A. Prentice. 1983. Case histories of three walleye stocking techniques with cost-to-benefit considerations. Proceedings of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies 37(1983):395-400.

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von Geldern, C. E., Jr. 1966. The introduction of white bass (Roccus chrysops) into California. California Fish and Game 52(4):303.

Young, B. A., T. L. Welker, M. L. Wildhaber, C. R. Berry, and D. Scarnecchia, editors. 1997. Population structure and habitat use of benthic fishes along the Missouri and lower Yellowstone rivers. Annual Report of Missouri River Benthic Fish Study PD-95-5832. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. 207 pp.

Other Resources:
FishBase Summary

Author: Fuller, P.

Revision Date: 6/27/2019

Peer Review Date: 5/29/2013

Citation Information:
Fuller, P., 2024, Morone chrysops (Rafinesque, 1820): U.S. Geological Survey, Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database, Gainesville, FL, https://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/FactSheet.aspx?speciesID=779, Revision Date: 6/27/2019, Peer Review Date: 5/29/2013, Access Date: 12/9/2024

This information is preliminary or provisional and is subject to revision. It is being provided to meet the need for timely best science. The information has not received final approval by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and is provided on the condition that neither the USGS nor the U.S. Government shall be held liable for any damages resulting from the authorized or unauthorized use of the information.

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The data represented on this site vary in accuracy, scale, completeness, extent of coverage and origin. It is the user's responsibility to use these data consistent with their intended purpose and within stated limitations. We highly recommend reviewing metadata files prior to interpreting these data.

Citation information: U.S. Geological Survey. [2024]. Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database. Gainesville, Florida. Accessed [12/9/2024].

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