New species of bass identified in Ocmulgee River

Scientists have identified two new species of bass in Georgia’s waterways, one of which can be found in the Ocmulgee River near Macon.

Researchers at the University of Georgia, Emory University, the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources and the University of North Georgia published a paper Aug. 19 naming the species, which were informally dubbed as Bartram’s bass and the Altamaha bass.

Macon is home to the Altamaha bass, which can be found above Georgia’s fall line in the Ocmulgee and Oconee rivers.

Georgia is now home to 12 different species of black bass, the most in the country and the world, said Hunter Roop, fisheries biologist and regional supervisor for fisheries in Region 3 of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

While anglers and local biologists knew something was different about these bass, scientists determined physical, genetic and morphological — structural — differences to formally identify them as a separate species, Roop said.

“There is no place on earth where you can find more of a combination of native and non-native black bass species than the state of Georgia,” he said.

The Altamaha bass can be differentiated by its darker tail with orange on the tips. The bass usually grows between 9-10 inches and is considered a sport fish, Roop said.

The Altamaha bass can be primarily found in smaller streams and rivers around the Altamaha River Basin, where the Oconee and Ocmulgee meet and flow out into the Atlantic. The Altamaha bass is “more like a trout” in terms of habitat preference, opting for small creeks and streams with lots of “rocky substrate,” riffles and shoals, Roop said.

“As a top predator, some would regard them as a keystone species, or a species that would disproportionately affect its environment,” he said.

To protect these two species of bass, Roop said the public needs to respect streams and habitats so they can support biodiversity. Overdeveloped, eroded banks cannot support the habitat for these fish.

Roop also said the Altamaha bass is threatened by non-native species of bass, including Alabama bass and shoal bass, which can breed with the Altamaha bass and dilute the species’ gene pool, eventually to the point where it no longer exists.

“The Altamaha bass is the only one that is endemic to the state of Georgia, meaning it doesn’t cross any border water with any other state,” Roop said. “It doesn’t occur anywhere else in the world. It really is special for the Altamaha bass in particular that it can’t be caught or found in any other location in the world.”