Meeting Abstract

P3.139  Friday, Jan. 6  Jumping performance of largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) across a size gradient CARPENTER-CARTER, S.*; PERLMAN, B.M.; ASHLEY-ROSS, M.A.; Wake Forest University; Wake Forest University; Wake Forest University perlbm0@wfu.edu

Some fishes may temporarily become stranded on land due to efforts to escape predation, find resources, or escape poor water quality. While adult mangrove rivulus and mosquito fish are capable of tail-flipping to produce directed movements on land, adult largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) do not seem to possess this ability. We hypothesized that scaling of body mass versus muscle cross-sectional area may result in a threshold size, above which a fish is no longer able to jump or attempt to tail-flip on land. We examined the relationship between body size and jumping ability in juvenile largemouth bass, specifically hypothesizing that the propensity to jump and jump distance would decrease with increasing body size. Individual fish (n = 9) were placed in the center of a kiddie pool and allowed to voluntarily jump for two minutes; all movements were recorded with a video camera (60 fps) above the pool. Videos were imported into ImageJ and the following variables were recorded: number of jumps, average and maximum jump distance, jump trajectory, and other movements. Jump trajectories were variable, but clustered around 180 degrees, indicating that bass tended to jump over their tail. Linear regressions showed that number of average and maximum jumps and jump distance were not correlated with increasing body length or mass. Though not statistically significant, there was a trend of decreasing maximum jump distance as body length increased. Regardless of body length or mass, juvenile largemouth bass spent proportionally more time flipping, bouncing, rolling, or twisting their body than jumping, suggesting that bass of any size possess limited capacity for producing directed movements on land.