This bass feeds on fish, snails, crawfish, frogs, snakes, salamanders, bats and even small water birds, mammals, and baby alligators. The Largemouth Bass is commonly 12 inches but can grow as large as 24 inches. They also occupy brackish to freshwater habitats, including upper estuaries, rivers, lakes, reservoirs and ponds. In Florida, Largemouths live in almost every body of fresh water. Largemouths prefer clear, non-flowing waters with aquatic vegetation where food and cover are available, but can tolerate a wide range of water clarities and bottom types. The Largemouth Bass is one of Florida's most popular game fish.

They are good eating but FWC encourages anglers to release fish over 17 inches so they can keep doing their important job of devouring unwanted species. It does not respond to plastic worms but live Shiners or fish shaped lures get their attention. The Butterfly Peacock Bass is more aggressive than the Largemouth and will target prey larger than itself.

The Peacock was introduced into Florida waters in the 1980's by FWC to help control the evasive African Spotted Tilapia, in Southeast canals. The Butterfly Peacock Bass is a tropical freshwater fish from the Amazon River and can be found in Southeast Florida canals and rivers under shady cover. Image Source: BASS Bass, Butterfly Peacock This species has been classified as a nuisance species so if you catch him, discard it. Black Acara are very territorial, reacting aggressively toward any fish in their proximity. This species is omnivorous, feeding on whatever is available. It has a low tolerance for brackish water, so you won't find it there. This fish grows to 8 inches and weighs 4 ounces. The Black Acara is found in shallow, stagnant, roadside ditches or similarly disturbed habitats that normally contain few other fishes but can also be found in larger canals and lakes. (The following list is presented by species in alphabetical order with no regard to habitat.) Acara, Black Most illustrations are by Duane Raver, Jr. The fish are, what they feed on, and their predators improve your chances To halt these declines, we urgently need policies on the human use of freshwaters that allow for the needs of the many other species sharing these ecosystems.There are dozens of species of freshwater fish in Florida. “The loss of these species would deprive billions of people of a critical source of food and income, and could have knock-on effects on entire ecosystems. “The world’s freshwater fish species, which number almost 18,000, are undergoing a dramatic and largely unrecognised global decline, as made apparent in the high levels of extinction threat to freshwater fish species in Japan and Mexico,” William Darwall, head of the IUCN Freshwater Biodiversity Unit, was quoted as saying in a press statement by the IUCN. Another noteworthy factor was competition with and predation by invasive alien species of fish.

It was revealed recently that two-thirds of the world’s great rivers no longer flow freely. The main reasons behind this were the usual suspects, namely loss of free-flowing rivers and agricultural and urban pollution. In fact, over half of Japan’s endemic freshwater fishes and more than a third of freshwater fishes in Mexico were threatened with extinction, the list of threatended species released on July 18, 2019, said. Freshwater fish species globally are under grave threat according to the latest edition of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s Red List.

List of freshwater fish