Rock bass
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The rock bass (Ambloplites rupestris), also known as the goggle-eye or rock perch, is a species of freshwater fish in the sunfish family (Centrarchidae) of order Perciformes. It is native to the Saint Lawrence River–Great Lakes system and the upper and middle Mississippi River basin in North America, from Québec to Saskatchewan in the north down to Missouri and northern Alabama and Georgia in the south.
The largest and commonest of the Ambloplites species, it has reached a maximum recorded overall length of 43 cm (17 in), and a maximum recorded weight of 1.4 kg (3.0 lb). It can live as long as 10 years. These fish have the ability to rapidly change their color to match their surroundings. It is this chameleon-like trait that allows them to thrive throughout their wide range.
The rock bass prefers clear, rocky, and vegetated stream pools and lake margins. Carnivorous, its diet consists of smaller fish, insects, and crustaceans.
A. rupestris is sometimes called the redeye or redeye bass in Canada, but this name refers more properly to Micropterus coosae, a distinct species of Centrarchid native to parts of the American South.
Rafinesque originally assigned the rock bass to Bodianus, a genus of marine wrasses (family Labridae).
References
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