widely distributed and highly prized American freshwater game fishes (sunfish family)

term used to describe several types of bass; the most common being smallmouth, largemouth, and spotted bass.

Micropterus (Lacépède, 1802), is a genus of freshwater fish in the sunfish family (family Centrarchidae) of order Perciformes. The type species is M. dolomieu, the smallmouth bass. The species of this genus are known as the black basses.