Bass

bass, in zoology

bass (băs), common name applied to various fishes of the families Serranidae (sea basses) and Centrarchidae (black basses and sunfishes). The sea basses are a large, diverse, and important family of perchlike fishes with oblong, rather compressed bodies. All basses are carnivorous and most are marine, although several species are found in freshwater (see sunfish). 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 6 lb (2.7 kg) in weight and 18 in. (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 white sea bass of the N Pacific, however, is a member of the Sciaenidae family (see croaker). The Pacific sea basses include the giant sea bass, or Pacific jewfish, a bulky bottom fish that reaches a weight of 600 lb (270 kg) and a length of 7 ft (2.1 m), as well as the 2-ft (60-cm) kelp and sand basses. The so-called Chilean sea bass, or Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides), of the deep, cold waters of the Southern Hemisphere, is a member of the Nototheniidae family. 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.

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bass, in music

bass (bās), in musical harmony, the part of lowest pitch. The term is used for the lowest-pitched male voice and for instruments of low pitch, such as bass clarinet, bass drum, bassoon (bass oboe), and bass trombone.

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bass

In zoology, any of numerous fish species, many valued for food or sport. Most are placed in three families (all in the order Perciformes): 400 species of sea bass and grouper; the family Moronidae, which contains about 12 species, including striped and European basses; and sunfishes, including the black and largemouth basses, prized by fishermen. Many other species are also known as bass, including the channel bass (a drum) and the calico bass (a crappie).

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bass

Lowest musical voice or register. In vocal music, its range is approximately from the second E below middle C to middle C itself. A basso profundo emphasizes a lower register, a basso cantante a somewhat higher one. Outside of Russia, the solo bass voice has generally been relegated to certain standard operatic character roles. The lowest-pitched member of most instrumental families is usually called the bass (bass clarinet, double bass, etc.). In Western tonal music, the bass part is usually second in importance only to the melody, being the chief determiner of harmonic movement, a tendency that became particularly notable after the appearance of the basso continuo c. 1600.

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bass¹

1. the lowest adult male voice usually having a range from E a 13th below middle C to D a tone above it

2. a singer with such a voice

3. the bass the lowest part in a piece of harmony

4. the low-frequency component of an electrical audio signal, esp in a record player or tape recorder

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bass²

1. any of various sea perches, esp Morone labrax, a popular game fish with one large spiny dorsal fin separate from a second smaller one

2. another name for the European perch (see perch (sense 1))

3. any of various predatory North American freshwater percoid fishes, such as Micropterus salmoides, (largemouth bass): family Centrarchidae (sunfishes, etc.)

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bass

1. another name for bast

2. a bast fibre bag for holding an angler's catch

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bass [bās (sounds)andbas (fish)]

(acoustics)

Sounds having frequencies at the lower end of the audio range, below about 250 hertz.

(vertebrate zoology)

The common name for a number of fishes assigned to two families, Centrarchidae and Serranidae, in the order Perciformes.

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Bass 

(1) The lowest masculine voice. High or singing bass is distinguished from low or deep bass (Italian, basso profundo). In opera, the comic bass is common. The high bass can be lyric (with a range roughly from G of the great octave to F of the first octave) or dramatic (from F of the great octave to E of the first octave). In Russian choral singing the low bass (from C through E of the great octave to D through E of the first octave) is also called the “central bass.” In choral singing, the bass is divided into first bass singers (whose part is sung by the baritones) and second bass singers (actual bass). In Russian choirs there are also so-called contrabass basses who are capable of reaching notes at the low limit of the human voice (A to B-flat of the contra-octaves).

(2) The lowest part of a many-voiced musical work.

(3) Figured bass (basso continuo).

(4) Musical instruments in a low register, including the bass tuba and double bass, as well as the folk cello in the Ukraine (basolia) and Byelorussia (basetlia).