Reproductive Investment of Largemouth Bass in Ohio Reservoirs

Despite the popularity of largemouth bass (LMB) with anglers throughout North America, information pertaining to basic reproductive biology is lacking.  Up to 3 LMB from each 1-cm length class were sacrificed from 16 Ohio reservoir populations during April-May 2013 and 2014.  For all females, fecundity and egg quality was estimated.   ANOVA was used to test for among-population differences in deviations of observed fecundity from those expected based on a combined linear relationship.  Variations in egg quality among populations and with female size was assessed using ANOVA.   Total fecundity showed a significant positive linear relationship with female weight when data from all populations was pooled, however, this relationship differed significantly among populations.  Egg quality differed significantly among populations and with female size, but the population*female size interaction term was not significant.  Female LMB >40cm produce more and larger eggs and may contribute disproportionately to year class strength despite being much less abundant than smaller females in Ohio reservoirs.  Female LMB may be allocating their energy to reproduction differently among populations.  There appears to be a tradeoff between egg quality and total fecundity.  In general, populations with females producing the largest eggs showed fecundity that was significantly lower than expected.