Chalk Up the Choctaw to Being Genetically Unique

"So, what's the Choctaw?" you may be asking. It's a species of bass, long mistaken for spotted bass, found in coastal rivers along the western Florida panhandle and southern Alabama, among other possible locations.

It was during a 2007 genetic study of other basses in Florida's Chipola River that scientists from the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute first found a DNA profile that didn't belong to any known species. By early 2009, scientists had discovered the same genetic profile in bass populations inhabiting the Choctawhatchee, Yellow, Blackwater, Escambia, Conecuh, and Perdido Rivers. After looking at some earlier scientific work others had done, the scientists came to believe that Choctaw bass likely also could be found in extreme southwest Alabama and southeast Mississippi, just west of the Mobile River Basin, as well as the Pearl River in Mississippi and Louisiana.

Work subsequently got underway to confirm this belief, but it wasn't until 2013, that Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission experts officially could confirm the newest member of Ameica's top freshwater fighting family as being Micropterus haiaka, or Choctaw bass. This name reflects its geographic connection to the indigenous range of the Native American Choctaw tribe. The provisional scientific designation "haiaka" comes from the Choctaw language and means "revealed," or "manifest." Researchers feel that's a fitting label, since they did not set out to discover a new bass species.

Because it's so similar to the spotted bass, the Choctaw is difficult to distinguish with the naked eye. The distinction usually can be made by counting scales, fin rays, and gill rakers, which are comb-like projections inside the gills to prevent particles from collecting on the gill filaments. Foolproof identification, however, requires genetic testing.

The 10th named species of bass and the first one since 2009, the Choctaw bass at full maturity weighs only a few pounds and measures about 14 inches in length. It's typically found in the upper reaches of rivers and streams, where sediment accumulates, avoiding stream headwaters and tidal zones closer to the coast. The Choctaw bass seemingly have staked out their own environments, as researchers have not found any spotted or Alabama bass in the same location.

Since finding this new species, scientists have been working to ensure the population remains healthy by implementing the best possible conservation management practices. Both Florida and Alabama have regulations preventing fish introductions and relocations, which could jeopardize the number of purebred Choctaw bass through interbreeding.

Whether the Choctaw bass has created (or for that matter, ever will create) the stir among anglers predicted in some reports I read about its discovery remains a mystery. As one avid fisherman predicted, "They'll want to catch and release one just to say they've done it." To date, though, my research hasn't revealed a single fisherman bragging about catching a Choctaw bass. Perhaps our angling compadres down south simply see the situation this way: "With all those bigger bass running around our waters, why bother?"

I promise you this: If I ever get lucky enough to take a fishin' trip to Florida, I'm gonna have my sights set on nothing less than one of those unforgettable hawgs--forget the Choctaws.