Unusual looking smallmouth bass

Aaron Kirchoff, Greensburg Daily News, Ind.
·2-min read

Apr. 6—Last week, my good friend and neighbor Lindsey Fonseth stopped by to see me. He had several interesting pictures on his flip phone of a smallmouth bass he had caught. The fish was nicely sized about 16 inches and looked totally healthy; except the skin was marked with dark black blotchy spots on the tail, sides, around the gills and even in the mouth. Lindsey said he had never seen anything like it and asked if I had encountered it in all my years fishing Big Flatrock River.

I said I have not, but I would check with someone I thought might know.

I sent a text to my good friend and retired conservation officer Dean Shadley, who regularly fishes Big Flatrock for smallmouth.

Sure enough, Dean had encountered Melanosis and had asked an Indiana fishery biologist about it. The blotches are non-communicable to human skin disorder called Melanosis.

According to Major League Fishing... Melanosis (aka Blotchy Bass Syndrome or BBS) is a condition characterized by black, ink-like spots, on the skin, fins and/or mouths of black basses. For many years, fisheries biologists thought the blotches were just a stress response. Turns out, the biologists were only half right. Researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Eastern Ecological Science Center in Leetown, West Virginia, have recently identified BBS is associated with a novel family of viruses known as Adomavirus (Adomaviridae).

Basses with skin hyperpigmentation were first observed in the 1980s and at the time it was assumed the condition was caused by environmental contaminants or stressors (i.e., temperature, spawning, sun exposure). The potential for virus-caused hyperpigmentation poses a more complicated fish health diagnosis because while an adomavirus has been identified as the culprit, other factors like contaminants or stressors may still play a role in when and where blotchy bass syndrome occurs.

'till next time,

Jack

Readers can contact the Jack Spaulding by writing to this publication or e-mail Jack at jackspaulding1971@outlook.com.

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