Tabby cat in the spine. The Spotted tabby is a modifier that breaks up the Mackerel tabby pattern so that the stripes appear as spots. Similarly, the stripes of the Classic tabby pattern may be broken into larger spots. Both large spot and small spot patterns can be seen in the Australian Mist, Bengal, Serengeti, Egyptian Mau, Arabian Mau, Maine Coon, and Ocicat breeds. The tabby patterns are due to three distinct gene loci and one modifier: The agouti gene, "A/a", controls whether or not the tabby pattern is expressed. The dominant "A" expresses the underlying tabby pattern, while the recessive non-agouti
Spotted bass body of a smallmouth bass. The spotted bass also has small black spots below the lateral line unlike either the large or smallmouth bass. Juveniles often resemble the young of smallmouth bass in having a broad band of orange at the base of the tail, followed by a broad black band and white edge. The spotted bass is known to hybridize with the smallmouth, which sometimes makes identification difficult. Spotted bass can be found deeper than smallmouth bass at depths up to 100 ft. Spotted bass seem to segregated by habitat type from closely related species such as the large