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Originally Posted by 87yota4runner
Can anyone tell me exactly what type of bass this is? I can't tell the difference between calico, sand and kelp bass.
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It's a hybrid. It's a either a cross between a calico and a spotted bay bass or a calico and a sand bass.
Sand Bass and Spotted bay bass are actually really closely related, as they are essentially the same fish but one is adapted to shallow inshore waters like bays and the other is adapted for open water.
Look at the dorsal fin, gill plate and eyes and you can see that even though the color pattern is not the same structurally those fish are almost identical. Also there a few spots on the face not as Many as with the spotty but they are there on young sandbass.
Sand bass will come into bays, but they still go out into open water and school up into large groups to spawn. Spotted bay bass stay in bays year round and no longer school up or spawn in open water. They still interbreed but it's rare because they now have different spawning behavior.
Color wise they have a lot of variation but generally spotties are much darker and heavily spotted where sandbass have few spots as adults even when they show darker markings.
Calicos or Kelp bass are a completely different fish.
Notice there's a difference in the fins and the shape of the head. The point of the gill plate is lower, and generally with kelp bass the color pattern is the same (same check spots in the same places) even if there is a big difference in their age or size.
Calicos can vary in color and are often darker when found in rocks or kelp.
but the basic markings of a purebred calico are almost always that same check pattern.
Like I said your fish is probably a hybrid as Kelp bass can interbreed with both Sand bass and spotted bay bass. Most likely just from the color pattern facial spots I'd say it's a cross between a Calico and a spotted bay bass, but the deal with hybrids is recessive genes can pop up and it could easily be a Calico sandbass hybrid.
Here's your fish again:
It would be easier if you could see the fins but from what's there: The spots on the face suggest it's part spotty or Sand bass and the three very distinct light colored blotches on the tail are roughly in the same place they would be on a Kelp or Calico bass. Sandbass have light bands but the are not as defined and do not go as far back towards the tail. The gill point has features of both fish. It's sharper like a sandbass or spotty but it's lower like with a Calico
Calicos do not have facial spots, sandbass and spotties do not have checks. I'd say the spots and checks together suggest that the fish is a hybrid.