Rock Bass
Rock Bass - (Ambloplites rupestris)
Length: usually about 6-8 inches
Weight: usually less than 1 lb. (World record is 3 lb. 10 oz.; Wisconsin record is 2 lb. 15 oz.)
Coloring: golden brown to olive, with silver to white belly; red eyes
Common Names: northern rock bass, redeye, redeye bass, goggle eye, and rock sunfish
Found in Lakes: all Great Lakes
The rock bass isn't really a bass--it's a member of the sunfish family--but it is associated with rocky habitat.
Identification
Like most of the other members of its family, the rock bass has a very deep, laterally compressed body. Its distinguishing features are a red to orange eye and 5 to 7 spines in the anal fin. Less colorful than the pumpkinseed and bluegill, rock bass are golden brown to olive with silvery white undersides. They are capable of changing rapidly to silver or blackish.
Habitat
This fish's favored habitat is clear, cool to warm waters over a gravel or rocky bottom with some vegetation, and they are often found near breakwaters and stone-armored shorelines. They can often be seen in groups near other sunfishes such as smallmouth bass and pumpkinseeds. During the winter, rock bass move to deeper water, where they enter a condition of semihibernation.
Life Cycle
In the spring, rock bass move to very shallow water (even as shallow as a few inches) to spawn when the temperatures reach 60-70 degrees F. Males build circular nests of about 8-10 inches in diameter by fanning out debris with their fins. A female will approach the nest only when she is ready to spawn, and the male watches her closely until she deposits her eggs. She releases only a few eggs at a time, which the male fertilizes as soon as they are extruded. Spawning may last as long as an hour.
Females leave the nest immediately after spawning, but males remain to guard the eggs. Hatching occurs within about 3-4 days, and the fry gradually rise up and out of the nest within a few more days. Now on their own, the fry remain in shallow, heavily vegetated areas for a few months.
Place in the Ecosystem
Rock bass will eat a wide variety of foods, including crayfish, small fish, and insects. Adults feed most heavily in the evening and morning. Young rock bass become food for larger predatory fishes such as large basses, northern pike, and muskies, and they compete with such fish as smallmouth bass for food.
Fishing
Often caught incidentally, the rock bass is fairly easy to catch from a variety of locations with several different types of bait. The fish strike the bait hard and put up a fight, but according to George Becker in Fishes of Wisconsin, "it tires easily."
copyright 2001 University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute
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