Hungry Like the Bass: Observations of Pack Hunting in Rock Bass (Ambloplites rupestris)

Jack M. Abel^1,*, Sean E. Sass², Vincent G. Sass², Quinnlan C. Smith³, and Greg G. Sass⁴

¹Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, 1479 Gortner Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108. ²North Lakeland Elementary School, 12686 County Highway K, Manitowish Waters, WI 54545. ³Center for Limnology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 680 North Park Street, Madison, WI 53706. ⁴Escanaba Lake Research Station, Office of Applied Science, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, 3110 Trout Lake Station Drive, Boulder Junction, WI 54512. *Corresponding author.

Northeastern Naturalist, Volume 32, Issue 2 (2025): N18–N22

First published early online: 24 May 2025

Abstract
Observations of pack, communal, or social hunting in fishes are rare. While scuba diving in Star Lake, Vilas County, WI, we observed a school of Ambloplites rupestris (Rock Bass) exhibiting pack hunting of invasive Faxonious rusticus (Rusty Crayfish). Individual Rock Bass approached a Rusty Crayfish from the anterior to elicit a defensive posture while others attacked it from behind, or an individual attempted to remove chelae while another consumed the incapacitated Rusty Crayfish. To our knowledge, these behaviors are the first observations of pack hunting in a North American freshwater fish and may highlight the influence of aquatic invasive species on adaptations in foraging behaviors of native fish to capitalize on novel prey resources.

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