The Effect of Stocking on the Meristic Complement of the Neosho Smallmouth Bass

Neosho smallmouth bass were collected from 1962-64 in tributaries of the Arkansas River in northwest Arkansas and southern Missouri. Counts were made of dorsal spines and soft-rays, anal spines and soft-rays, pectoral fin-rays and lateral-line scales. The data were compared with that for intergrade smallmouth from other drainages in Arkansas and with data given by Castro (1963) and Hubbs and Bailey (1940). Neosho smallmouth in this study had significantly higher mean counts than those reported in 1940. Each stream having higher counts had been stocked with the intergrade form of smallmouth from the White River in Arkansas.