Striped Bass, Morone saxatilis
Striped Bass, Morone saxatilis. Fish caught from coastal waters within King Harbor, Redondo Beach, California, July 2024. Length: 56 cm (22 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Zachary Fratello, Redondo Beach, California.
The Striped Bass, Morone saxatilis, is a member of the Temperate Bass or Moronidae Family, that is also known as the Atlantic Striped Bass, Linesider, Rockfish and Striper and in Mexico as Lobina Estriadast. Globally, there are four species in the Morone Genus, and only this species found in Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean.
The Striped Bass a streamlined silvery fusiform body that is 22% to 26% of standard length that is marked with 7 or 8 longitudinal dark stripes that run from behind the gills to the caudal fin. They resemble a freshwater Largemouth Bass, Micropterus nigricans. Dorsally they are greenish that transitions to silvery ventrally. Their anal fin has 3 spines and 7 to 13 rays; their caudal fin is moderately forked; their first dorsal fin has 8 to 10 spines; their second dorsal fin has 10 to 13 rays; their pelvic fins are jugular; and they have a prominent lateral line.
The Striped Bass inhabits coastal waters, normally within 4 miles of the coast, and are commonly found in bays that range in temperatures from 8oC (46oF) to 25oC (77oF). They may enter rivers in the spring to spawn. They reach a maximum of 2.00 m (6 feet 9 inches) in length and 57 kg (125 lbs) in weight. As of December 1, 2024, the International Game Fish Association world record for weight stood at 37.3 kg (81 lbs 14 oz) with the fish caught in coastal waters of Long Island Sound off Westbrook, Connecticut, August 2011. The females are larger than males, taking about twice as long to reach maturity (4 to 6 years versus 1 to 3 years) and fish from the Atlantic Ocean are larger than fish from the Pacific Ocean.
The Striped Bass are anadromous that migrate in the spring from salt water to fresh water requiring fresh water for spawning. Some fish become landlocked and live out their lives in fresh water. Young fish are usually found in shallow waters on sandy or muddy shores, while adult fish often occur along surf-swept beaches or rock shorelines. Each female will broadcast between 500,000 and 3.0 million eggs annually which are fertilized by one or several males. The eggs are pelagic and hatch within ten days and the larvae are pelagic which eventually move to near shore estuarine nursery areas. Larvae feed on zooplankton; juveniles take in small shrimps and other crustaceans, annelid worms, and insects; adults are voracious predators that feed on a wide variety of fishes and invertebrates (squid, crabs, sea worms and amphipods). In turn they are preyed upon by birds, fish, humans and sea lions. They have life spans of 30 years.
The Striped Bass is native to the Atlantic Seaboard of North America from the St. Lawrence River, Nova Scotia to Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico. They were introduced to San Francisco Bay in 1879 and are now present from British Columbia to Baja California. By the 1980s the Striped Bass had been introduced into hundreds of large reservoirs in 36 states and in many countries for use by recreational anglers and to control populations of Gizzard Shad. The Striped Bass has a limited presence in Mexican waters of Pacific Ocean being found from Ensenada north along the extreme northwest coast of the Baja Peninsula.
Juvenile Striped Bass can be confused with Salema, Brachygenys californiensis (larger eyes, brown stripes). The adults are easily confused with the Hybrid Striped Bass or Palmetto Bass (interrupted or broken stripes). They are also similar to the White Perch, Morone americana (deeper body; lacks prominent lateral stripes), and the White Bass, Morone chrysops (smaller with a deeper body and less defined stripes).
From a conservation perspective the Striped Bass is currently considered to be of Least Concern, with stable, widely distributed populations. However, their populations have been in decline which has been attributed to overfishing and habitat degradation. They are recognized as one of the most important food fishes for humans since the colonial times (1600’s). They are currently a major sports-fish due to their size, strength and quality as a food fish. The Striped Bass is the parent species of the Hybrid Striped Bass (known as Cherokee Bass, Palmetto Bass, Sunshine Bass, White Rock Bass and Wipers), a prominent commercial aquaculture species. Commercial aquaculture of Hybrid Striped Bass is currently on going in 19 states with 50% of the production occurring in California and Texas. It began in the 1970s and is now the fourth largest finfish, behind catfish, salmonids and tilapia, that have now reached the 5.4 million kg (12.0 million lbs) annual level valued at $50 million. Today, recreational landings make up approximately 75% of coastal landings and 60% of all Striped Bass in the United States are grown by aquaculture. They grow rapidly in fresh, brackish, and marine environments and can reach a target market size of 1.36 kg (3 lbs 0 oz) in two years. The Striped Bass is in high demand as a human food fish with the market estimated to be in excess of 100 million kg per annum, and is currently well positioned for commercial production as the fish is euryhaline, capable of being reared in fresh, brackish, or marine water in both coastal and inland systems throughout the United States. A Mexican Company, Pacifico Aquaculture, is currently building a Striped Bass facility in Ensenada Bay, Baja California. that they hope to have fully operational by early 2026 that will produce 20,000 metric tons per annum. They are a managed fishery that is sometimes utilized as an indicator of the local environmental health. As they are a top-level predatory fish they have had a major negative ecological impacts on native species in their introduced range.