Bass are also a type of fish.
Bass are various fishes of the families Serranidae and Centrarchidae, which are the sea basses and freshwater basses. The sea basses are a large, diverse, and commercially important family of perchlike fishes with oblong and compressed bodies. All basses are carnivorous and most are marine, although several species are found in freshwater. Sea basses inhabit warm and temperate seas throughout the world and are highly valued as game and food fishes. Along the Atlantic coast as far north as Cape Cod is found the common, or black, sea bass, a sluggish bottom fish averaging 2.7 kg in weight and 45 cm in length. Offshoots of the sea basses and classified with them are the white basses, including the striped bass (or rockfish) and the white perch, both found in fresh and brackish waters from Florida to Canada; the white bass of the Mississippi valley and the Great Lakes; and the similar but smaller yellow bass, found in the same range. The Pacific sea basses include the giant sea bass, or Pacific jewfish, a bulky bottom fish that reaches a weight of 270 kg and a length of 2.1 m, as well as the 60-cm kelp and sand basses. The groupers are an important genus of large tropical sea basses. Very closely allied to the sea basses are the tripletail, with prominent anal and dorsal fins, and the robalo, or snook, widely distributed in tropical American saltwaters. Basses are classified in the phylum Chordata , subphylum Vertebrata, class Osteichthyes, order Perciformes, families Serranidae and Centrarchidae.
Bass fishing is a popular and addictive passtime for many people. There are quite a few organizations that provide information and support in this activity, most notably B.A.S.S., or Bass Anglers Sportsman Society. I enjoy bass fishing here in Illinois, especially angling for small mouth bass.
However, bass have a sort of a bad name now, thanks to the abomination of Big Mouth Billy Bass.