Rock Bass - Redeye - Redeye Bass - Goggle Eye - Rock Sunfish
Rock Bass (Ambloplites rupestris) is also known by the names of northern rock bass, rock perch, redeye, redeye bass,
goggle eye, and rock sunfish. This species of freshwater fish, which is not really a bass, but a member of the sunfish
family (Centrarchidae) of order Perciformes, associated to bass because of its rocky habitat.
Most members of the sunfish family can be identified by a very deep and laterally compressed body. They usually have red
to orange eyes, large, terminal mouth, body coloring from golden brown to olive, with white to silver belly, and 5 to 7
spines in the anal fin and 12 in the dorsal. Rock Bass are about 6 to 8 inches in length, weighing less than 1 lb.
Rock bass are less colorful than the bluegill and the pumpkinseed, but with the ability to change rapidly, its color to
silver or blackish to match its surroundings, and preferring clear, vegetated and rocky lake margins and stream pools.
Rock bass can live as long as 10 years.
It can be found in all the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence River system, but also in Wisconsin, the upper and middle
Mississippi River, and down to Missouri, northern Alabama and Georgia in the south, as well as from Québec to
Saskatchewan in Canada.
Besides the chameleonic capability, Rock bass species are carnivorous, eating insects, crustaceans and smaller fish and
crayfish. Adult Rock bass may eat heavily, particularly in the evening and early in the morning. Younger species become
food for larger predatory fish such as northern pike, muskellunge and large bass.
Their favorite habitat is clear, cool to warm waters, with gravel or rocky bottoms, and some vegetation. Rock Bass
species are usually found near stone-armored shorelines and breakwaters. A peculiar characteristic of Rock Bass is
their activity during the winter, moving to deeper water, where they normally enter a condition of semi-hibernation.
Rock Bass is frequently seen in groups, particularly near other sunfishes, such as the Black Crappie, Bluegill, Green
Sunfish, Largemouth Bass, Longear Sunfish, Orangespotted Sunfish, Redear Sunfish, Spotted Bass, Warmouth, White Crappie
and the already cited pumpkinseeds and smallmouth bass.
In relation to its reproductive habits, Rock Bass mature in 3 years. Spawning occurs from April to early June in warm
waters ranging from 15.6º to 26°C (55ª to 60ª F). Rock bass have a fecundity rate of 2,000 to 11,000 eggs per female,
and males can become aggressive defending their territory while they attract and hold females.
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