Largemouth Bass vs. Butterfly Peacock Bass

[dinosauria101]

Largemouth Bass - Micropterus salmoides

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ed/Largemouth_bass_fish_underwater_animal_in_natural_habitat_micropterus_salmoides.jpg/1024px-Largemouth_bass_fish_underwater_animal_in_natural_habitat_micropterus_salmoides.jpg

Order: Perciformes
Family: Centrachidae
Length: Up to 75 cm
Mass: 5-11 kg
Diet: Other fish
Killing apparatus: Gaping jaws
Has a very large mouth relative to size, hence the name. Often sought by anglers.

Butterfly Peacock Bass - Cichla ocellaris

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/ButterflyPeacockBass_01.jpg

Order: Perciformes
Family: Cichlidae
Length: 80 cm
Mass: 9 kg
Diet: Other fish
Killing apparatus: Gaping jaws
A very popular game and food fish. Known for its bright peacock-like tail spots.

NOTE: This is sympatric in Florida

[6f5e4d]

Largemouth bass is bigger than butterfly peacock bass, and as both have similar jaws, the largemouth bass might win.

[dinosauria101]

Using teh mean of sizes, the peacock bass is probably larger.

I'd favor the latter; in addition to being a bit larger they're apparently much more aggressive, and landing that 1st bite would be crucial.

[Ceratodromeus]

Neither of those sizes are representative of average specimens. This is a case of larger fish eats smaller fish.

[dinosauria101]

Don't think either will have an easy time swallowing the other. They're fairly similar sizes.

[Ceratodromeus]

They don't need to swallow something to kill it.


Interestingly, the butterfly peacock bass is said to thrive in areas where it is introduced with the spotted bass; the latter not fairing as well. Probably not as relevant, as spotted bass don't get as large as the Largemouth, but it is still interesting.

[dinosauria101]

Hm, maybe this is worthy of debate after all.

I also might be able to do more peacock bass matchups.

[Ceratodromeus]

Regarding size:
"“Size: 70 cm TL.”
From Froese and Pauly (2015):
“Max length: 74.0 cm TL male/unsexed; [IGFA 2001]; max. published weight: 6.8 kg [IGFA
2001]”


 This may or may not be relevant:
"“Largely unknown. Introduced Cichla in Florida include native fishes in their diets (Nico,
unpublished data) although Shafland (1999) claimed no evidence for adverse effects on native
communities. There is some evidence that it may exclude largemouth bass from spawning aread
[sic] in Florida canals. The introduction of peacock cichlids into Lake Gatun, Panama, was
followed by largescale changes in food-web structure and aquatic community composition (Zaret
and Paine 1973).”

www.fws.gov/fisheries/ANS/erss/highrisk/ERSS-Cichla-ocellaris-FINAL-June2018.pdf