Interactions of Blue Tilapia and Largemouth Bass in a Power Plant Cooling Reservoir

In the presence of a dense population of blue tilapia, the population of northern largemouth bass declined in three years to one-third its 1972 abundance in Trinidad Lake, Texas. A pond experiment with Florida largemouth bass indicated that bass failed to reproduce sllccessfully at a tilapia density of 2000 Ib/A, but at 1000 Ib/A some bass spawning occurred. Trends in gonosomatic indices suggest that eggs were retained by bass at high tilapia densities.