His notebooks show he dithered back and forth on the proper identification of many spotted bass specimens. Scientists, Dr. Henshall included, mistakenly believed the specimen Rafinesque used to describe the species was actually a smallmouth bass. Spotted bass remained obscure until 1927, when Michigan ichthyologist, Dr. Carl Hubbs proved to his peers that the spotted bass was indeed a distinct species. Originally, Dr. Hubbs named it the Kentucky bass, believing that the new species was limited to waters of that state. Our chart shows the two known subspecies of spotted bass, the northern and Alabama forms.
Today there are seven distinct species of black bass.
And our chart has America s newest sport fish, the shoal bass. This will probably be the last sport fish species to get a scientific name in North America. The shoal bass is not necessarily a new discovery. Dr. Hubbs suspected the shoal bass as something different in the late 1930s. Turns out he was right.