Striped bass

 

Striped bass
Striped bass
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Perciformes
Family:	Moronidae
Genus:	Morone
Species:	M. saxatilis
Binomial name
Morone saxatilis (Walbaum, 1792)

The striped bass (Morone saxatilis), also called Atlantic striped bass, striper, linesider, rock, pimpfish, or rockfish) is the state fish of Maryland, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and the state saltwater (marine) fish of New York, New Jersey, Virginia, and New Hampshire. They are also found in the Minas Basin and Gaspereau River in Nova Scotia, Canada.

 Morphology and lifespan

The striped bass is a typical member of the Moronidae family in shape, having a streamlined, silvery body marked with longitudinal dark stripes running from behind the gills to the base of the tail. Maximum size is 200 cm (6.6 ft) and maximum scientifically recorded weight 57 kg (125 US pounds). Common mature size is 120 cm (3.9 ft). Striped bass are believed to live for up to 30 years.^[1]

 Distribution

 Natural distribution

Striped bass are native to the Atlantic coastline of North America from the St. Lawrence River into the Gulf of Mexico to approximately Louisiana. They are anadromous fish that migrate between fresh and salt water. Spawning takes place in fresh water.

 Introductions outside their natural range

Striped bass have been introduced to the Pacific Coast of North America and into many of the large reservoir impoundments across the United States by state game and fish commissions for the purposes of recreational fishing and as a predator to control populations of gizzard shad.^[2][3][4] These include: Elephant Butte Lake in New Mexico; Lake Ouachita, Lake Norfork, Beaver Lake (Arkansas) and Lake Hamilton in Arkansas; Lake Powell, Lake Pleasant, and Lake Havasu in Arizona; Castaic Lake, Lake George in Florida, Pyramid Lake, Silverwood Lake, Diamond Valley Lake, East Fork State Park Lake near Cincinnati Lewis Smith Lake in Alabama [1], Lake Cumberland, and Lake Murray in California; Lake Lanier in Georgia; Reelfoot Lake, Tennessee; and Lake Mead, Nevada; Lake Texoma, Lake Tawakoni, Lake Whitney, Possum Kingdom Lake, and Lake Buchanan in Texas; Raystown Lake in Pennsylvania; and in Virginia Smith Mountain Lake.^[5]
Striped bass have also been introduced into waters in Ecuador, Iran, Latvia, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, and Turkey primarily for sport fishing and aquaculture.^[1]

 Environmental factors

The spawning success of striped bass has been studied in the San Francisco Bay-Delta water system, with a finding that high total dissolved solids (TDS) reduce spawning. At levels as low as 200 mg/L TDS there is an observable diminution of spawning productivity.^[6] They can be found in lakes, ponds, streams and wetlands.
Former President of the United States George W. Bush, in Executive Order 13449 of October 20, 2007, designated the striped bass as a protected game fish. Further, he directed executive agencies to use existing legal authorities, to the extent possible, to prohibit the sale of striped bass caught in Federal waters in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico.^[7]

 Life cycle

Illustration of a group of striped bass

Striped bass spawn in freshwater and although they have been successfully adapted to freshwater habitat, they naturally spend their adult lives in saltwater (i.e., it is anadromous). Four important bodies of water with breeding stocks of striped bass are: Chesapeake Bay, Massachusetts Bay/Cape Cod, Hudson River and Delaware River. It is believed that many of the rivers and tributaries that emptied into the Atlantic, had at one time, breeding stock of striped bass. One of the largest breeding areas is the Chesapeake Bay, where populations from Chesapeake and Delaware bays have intermingled.^[8] There are very few successful spawning populations of freshwater striped bass, including Lake Texoma, the Colorado River and its reservoirs downstream from and including Lake Powell, and the Arkansas River as well as Lake Marion (South Carolina) that retained a landlocked breeding population when the dam was built; other freshwater fisheries must be restocked with hatchery-produced fish annually. Stocking of striped bass was discontinued at Lake Mead in 1973 once natural reproduction was verified.^[9]

 Hybrids with other bass

Striped bass have also been hybridized with white bass to produce hybrid striped bass also known as wiper. These hybrids have been stocked in many freshwater areas across the U.S.^[10][11]

 Fishing for striped bass

Main article: Striped bass fishing

Striped bass caught in the Atlantic Ocean off the New Jersey coast.

Striped bass are of significant value as sport fishing, and have been introduced to many waterways outside their natural range. A variety of angling methods are used, including trolling and surfcasting, with top water lures a good pick for surf casting. Striped bass will take a number of live and fresh baits including bunker, clams, eels, sandworms, herring, bloodworms, mackerel, and shad, with the last being an excellent bait for freshwater fishing.
The largest striped bass ever taken by angling was a 81.88 lb (37.14 kg) specimen taken from boat in Long Island Sound, near the Outer Southwest Reef, off the coast of Westbrook, Connecticut. The all-tackle world record fish was taken by Gregory Myerson^[12] on the night of August 4, 2011. The fish took a drifted live eel bait, and fought for 20 minutes before being boated by Myerson. A second hook and leader was discovered in the fish's mouth when it was boated, indicating it had been previously hooked by another angler. The fish measured 54 inches in length and had a girth of 36 inches. The International Game Fish Association declared Myerson's catch the new All-Tackle World Record striped bass on October 19, 2011.^[13] In addition to now holding the All-Tackle record, Meyerson’s catch also landed him the new IGFA men’s 37 kg (80 lb) line class record for striped bass, which previously stood at 70 lb. The previous all-tackle world record fish that was unseated by Myerson's 81.88 pound fish was a 35.6 kg (78.5 lb) specimen taken in Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 21, 1982^[14] by Albert McReynolds, who fought the fish from the beach for an hour and twenty-minutes after taking his Rebel artificial lure. McReynolds all-tackle world record stood for 29 years.^[15]
Recreational bag limits vary by state and province.

 Landlocked striped bass

Striped bass are an anadromous fish and their spawning ritual of traveling up rivers to spawn led some of them to become landlocked during lake dam constructions. It is now documented that the first area they became landlocked was in the Santee-Cooper river during the construction of the two dams that impounded Lake Moultrie and Lake Marion, and because of this the state game fish of South Carolina is the striped bass.^[16]
Recently biologists believe that striped bass stayed in rivers for long periods of time, some not returning to sea unless temperature changes forced migration. Once fishermen and biologists caught on to rising striped bass populations, many state natural resources departments started stocking striped bass in local lakes. Striped bass still continue the natural spawn run in freshwater lakes, traveling up river and blocked at the next dam, which is why they are landlocked. Landlocked stripers have a hard time reproducing naturally, and one of the few and most successful rivers they have been documented reproducing successfully is the Coosa River in Alabama and Georgia.^[17]
One of the only landlocked striped bass populations in Canada, is located in the Grand Lake, Nova Scotia. They migrate out in early April into the Shubencadie river to spawn. These bass also spawn in the Stewiacke river (tributary of the Shubencadie river). The Shubencadie river system is one of five known spawning areas in Canada for Striped bass. The others being St. Lawerence river, Mirmichi River, St John river, Annapolis river and Shubencadie/Stewiacke rivers. http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/species-especes/species-especes/stripedbass-Fundy-barraye-eng.htm

 Management

The striped bass population declined to less than 5 million by 1982, but efforts by fishermen and management programs to rebuild the stock proved successful, and in 2007, there were nearly 56 million fish, including all ages. Recreational anglers and commercial fisherman caught an unprecedented 3.8 million fish in 2006. The management of the species includes size limits, commercial quotas, and biological reference points for the health of the species. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission states that striped bass are "Not overfished and overfishing is not occurring."^[18]