At the request of Chief Forum Research Librarian ewest.

From the thread Genetically Superior Fish :

 Quote:
Originally posted by Theo Gallus:
WRT stunted LMB growing:

If bass numbers are reduced and forage base is present, both sufficiently, stunted bass will resume growing. But there are a couple of caveats to go with this.

12" stunted bass presently in such a pond will probably never reach the size that bass in a never-stunted pond will. They've already used up part of their lifespan, and won't live long enough to grow as big as a younger, 12" non-stunted bass.

Secondly, there's a lot of thought that if a pond stays in a stunted condition for a sufficient amount of time, the fish may become genetically selected for their stunted state. In a pond managed for big bass, we remove the small bass and retain the large ones, rewarding fast growth and large size with enhanced reproductive rights. In the stunted pond, these (artificial) genetic selectors are not present. There is no penalty for bass which grow just big enough to reproduce and then stop growing, instead expending all their energy on spawning and none on growth.

Perhaps over time this produces bass predisposed to stunt; I certainly think the longer a pond has had stunted bass, the better the chance that it has happened.

IIRC, the course of action usually prescribed is to reduce the overpopulation of bass and improve the forage base (if needed), then to consider adding fresh LMB genetics (with fish large enough to survive predation from the existing bass).


Last edited by ewest; 09/07/08 06:09 PM.
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