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Stripped Bass
Information
Morone Saxatilis (Striped Bass)
are members of the family Percichthyidae, the temperate
basses.
Males reach a maximum length 45 in, whereas females grow
up to 72 in. in their native habitat.
Stripers are anadromous (ascending rivers from the sea
for breeding).
Stripers tend to school by size rather than age. Only
females exceeding 30 pounds show any tendency to be
solitary.
The Striped Bass is the largest
member of the sea bass family, often called "temperate"
or "true" bass to distinguish it from species such as
largemouth, smallmouth, and spotted bass which are
actually members of the sunfish family Centrarchidae.
Stripers are native to the Atlantic coast, from the St.
Lawrence River, Canada, to the St. John's River,
Florida. On the Gulf coast, it is distributed from the
Suwannee River, Florida, to eastern Texas. Because
striped bass can live in fresh water, they have been
stocked in many inland reservoirs. However, Stripers do
not have successful spawns in most inland reservoirs.
Striped Bass spawning migrations typically begin in
March, when water temperatures exceed 58 F, and continue
through early summer, with males arriving at spawning
grounds before females. Fish move upstream in the body
of water they are located even if natural re-production
is not recorded in the body of water the stripers
inhabit they will still make the spawning run.
Female stripers releases her eggs to be fertilized by
any pursuing males. The semi-buoyant eggs then need to
drift in currents for several days until they hatch.
Spawning success is often sporadic because of the
limited range of environmental conditions required for
eggs to hatch and larvae to grow.
Sexual maturity occurs around about 28 in. in length.
Eggs are pelagic, and larvae hatch in approximately 2-3
days. Larvae depend on endogenous nutrition for the
first 5-10 days.
In freshwater impoundment's, fish such as herring and
shads constitute the main diet of the adult striped
bass.
Striped Bass have historically been America's most
important recreational and commercial fish. Sportfishing
attracts many fishermen to lakes,reservoirs and rivers
across our nation.
A significant decline of striped bass throughout the
East Coast began in the late 1970s. The U.S. Congress
responded to this in 1979 by amending the
Anadromous Fish Conservation Act
to include an emergency striped bass study.
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