Fishing for Florida Bass in West Virginia: Genomic Evaluation of Florida Bass Presence and Establishing Baselines of Genetic Structure and Diversity for Native Largemouth Bass

Abstract

Florida bass (Micropterus salmoides) and largemouth bass (Micropterus nigricans) are iconic sport fish that hybridize readily, influencing fishery management practices. While the Florida bass has been introduced to various U.S. states to create trophy fisheries, its genetic introgression into native populations can lead to ecological and genetic consequences. Recognizing the need to assess Florida bass presence to guide future management directions, diagnostic SNPs were genotyped for 856 putative largemouth bass across 31 sampling locations across the state of West Virginia. Florida bass controls and a reduced representative sample of 226 individuals from 19 sampling locations were sequenced using the genotype-by-sequencing dd-RAD protocol. The results from the two genomic investigations found no Florida bass ancestry in West Virginia populations, suggesting either no introduction or failed reproductive success of Florida bass in the state. Among West Virginia largemouth bass populations, unique genetic ancestries were found predominantly in introduced non-native largemouth bass populations, indicating that the only sub-structuring in the state is a result of stocking non-native ancestries into the state. Genomic diversity was found to be higher in Ohio River pools compared to inland reservoirs, as well as showing higher levels of potential inbreeding. These results underscore the need to preserve the genetic integrity of native Ohio River strain largemouth bass and prevent the introduction of the Florida bass or F₁ hybrids into the Ohio River and other watersheds of West Virginia. Management recommendations include prioritizing the stocking of native strain bass to mitigate inbreeding and avoid introducing Florida bass to conserve genetic diversity.

Keywords: Florida bass; fisheries; largemouth bass; non-native species management.

Figure 1

A map of eastern North America and major river systems is shown on the left, with the extent of West Virginia highlighted in orange. Sample locations across West Virginia are shown on the right, with river sampling locations indicated by triangle sample points. Eastern sampling locations are indicated by a diamond-shaped point, where largemouth bass are considered an introduced species.

Figure 2

PCA (A), DAPC (B), and LEA ancestry assignment (C) plots of 226 largemouth bass from 19 sampling locations in West Virginia and 4 known Florida bass and 3 putative F1 hybrids as one population using 2772 SNPs. From left to right in section C, the populations are as follows: Bluestone (BLU), Burnsville (BUR), Cheat (CHE), East Lynn (ELY), Florida bass (FLB), Kimsey Run (KRU), Mt. Storm (MTS), O’Brien (OBR), Ohio River Hannibal Pool (OHA), Ohio River Racine Pool (ORA), Ohio River Willow Island Pool (OWI), Parker Hollow (PKH), Plum Orchard (PLU), R.D. Bailey (RDB), Sleepy Creek (SCR), Stephens (STP), Sutton (SUT), Stonewall Jackson (SWJ), and Warden (WAR).

Figure 3

PCA (A) and DAPC plots by group, with each color (red and blue) representing the two genetic groups as defined by K = 2 using k-means clustering (B) and by population (C) for 226 largemouth bass from 19 sampling locations in West Virginia utilizing 2618 SNPs.

Figure 4

Ancestry plots generated by the LEA sparse nonnegative matrix factorization ancestry inference model for K = 2–6 among 226 largemouth bass from 19 sampling locations across West Virginia utilizing 2618 SNPs. From left to right, the populations are as follows: Bluestone (BLU), Burnsville (BUR), Cheat (CHE), East Lynn (ELY), Kimsey Run (KRU), Mt. Storm (MTS), O’Brien (OBR), Ohio River Hannibal Pool (OHA), Ohio River Racine Pool (ORA), Ohio River Willow Island Pool (OWI), Parker Hollow (PKH), Plum Orchard (PLU), R.D. Bailey (RDB), Sleepy Creek (SCR), Stephens (STP), Sutton (SUT), Stonewall Jackson (SWJ), and Warden (WAR).