Tuesday March 24, 2026
Science Daily —
Although the species are only now being officially classified, they have been seen before. Ecologist Bud Freeman first came across Micropterus pucpuggy, now called Bartram’s bass, back in the 1980s. While visiting the Broad River, a couple showed him an unusual fish they had caught and placed in a cooler. Freeman immediately realized it was something different and offered them $5 to take it. They declined, saying, “No, man. We’re taking it home and eating it.”
“That would have been an important specimen,” said Freeman, lead author of the study and a senior public service associate emeritus at the UGA Odum School of Ecology.