Jeffrey E. Hill

The movement and habitat selection of largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) was determined in a north-central Florida lake from 18 April 2002 to 1 May 2003 via radio telemetry. The study site was a steep-sided, 7-ha flooded limerock quarry, composed of six conjoined sub-basins. Twelve largemouth bass were internally implanted with radio transmitters (of no more than 18% of the total length of the fish). Limnetic areas were selected over littoral areas during the summer (May through October) and fall/winter (November through January) periods. Only one fish used littoral areas more than...

The interaction of prey fish body depth and predator gape size may produce prey assemblages dominated by invulnerable prey and excessive prey-to-predator biomass ratios. Peacock cichlids (Cichla ocellaris) were stocked into southeast Florida canals to consume excess prey fish biomass, particularly spotted tilapia (Tilapia mariae). The ecomorphologically similar largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) was already present in the canals. We present relations of length-specific gape size for peacock cichlids and largemouth bass. Both predators have broadly overlapping gape size, but largemouth...