Wednesday, October 5, 2011

1) Striped Bass

1) Striped Bass



The Wiki caption for this photo notes that this is a striped bass caught off the coast of New Jersey 


The number one local delicacy is, without question, a fish – striped bass to be precise.

Because striped bass is regulated by law, and cannot be caught or sold commercially, the striper is hard to find except in the ocean, bays and sometimes up river. But if you catch one, or know someone who catches one (of legal size), then you are lucky enough to get a chance to try eating a filet – which is the filet mingnon of fish. It has a very distinct and unbelieveable taste, especially when cooked fresh, never frozen – grilled in butter is good enough for me. There are farm bred striped bass available but they pale in comparison to the real thing and don’t count.

To get a striped bass filet you have to fish for it, or hang out where the fishermen are – along the beaches – especially Island Beach State Park or any of the inlets, or the bait and tackle shops where they have scales to weight the fish in. Sometimes the fishermen will share their catch, and give away some filets that can be frozen and cooked later on. Or if you’re really lucky and are at the Tight End Club at Gregory’s when someone brings in a keeper striper, they sometimes cook it up right away and share it with whose ever at the bar.


Striped bass - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


The striped bass(Morone saxatilis, also called Atlantic striped bass, stripers, linesiders, rock, pimpfish, or rockfish) is thestate fish ofMarylandRhode IslandSouth Carolina, and the state saltwater (marine) fish ofNew YorkVirginia, and New Hampshire. They are also found in the Minas Basin and Gaspereau River in Nova Scotia Canada.


The striped bass (Morone saxatilis, also called Atlantic striped bass, stripers, linesiders, rock, pimpfish, or rockfish) is thestate fish ofMarylandRhode IslandSouth Carolina, and the state saltwater (marine) fish ofNew YorkVirginia, and New Hampshire. They are also found in the Minas Basin and Gaspereau River in Nova Scotia Canada.



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 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). The average weight is 30 to 40 lbs. Striped bass are believed to live for up to 30 years. [1]

[edit]Morphology and lifespan

[edit]Distribution

[edit]Natural distribution

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

[edit]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 PowellLake Pleasant, and Lake Havasu in Arizona; Castaic Lake, Lake George in Florida, Pyramid LakeSilverwood LakeDiamond Valley LakeEast Fork State Park Lake near Cincinnati[1]Lake Cumberland, andLake Murray in California; Lake Lanier in Georgia; Reelfoot Lake, Tennessee; and Lake Mead, Nevada; Lake TexomaLake Tawakoni,Lake WhitneyPossum 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 EcuadorIran,LatviaMexicoRussiaSouth Africa, and Turkey primarily for sport fishing and aquaculture.[1]

[edit]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



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 isanadromous). Four important bodies of water with breeding stocks of striped bass are: Chesapeake BayMassachusetts 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 producehybrid striped bass also known as wiper. These hybrids have been stocked in many freshwater areas across the U.S.[10][11]

[edit]Fishing for striped bass



Striped bass are of significant value assport fishing, and have been introduced to many waterways outside their natural range. A variety ofangling methods are used, including trolling and surfcasting top water lures are a good pick for surf casting. Striped bass will take a number of live and fresh baits including bunkerclams, sandworms, herring,bloodwormsmackerel with shad being the best bait for freshwater striper fishing. The largest striped bass ever caught by angling was a 35.6 kg (78.5 lb) specimen taken in Atlantic CityNew Jersey on September 21, 1982.[12] The record-holder is Albert McReynolds, who fought the fish from the beach for an hour and twenty-minutes before landing it in the surf.[13]
Recreational limits vary by state.

[edit]Land locked 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 was once believed 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 belief the state game fish of South Carolina is the striped bass.[14]
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.[15]

[edit]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."[16]

[edit]References

  1. a b Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2007)."Morone saxatilis" inFishBase. March 2007 version.
  2. ^ Striped Bass Management Planretrieved on 10 June 2007.
  3. ^ Pennysylvania State Fish & Boat Commission, Gallery of Pennsylvania Fishes, Chapter 21. Retrieved 10 June 2007.
  4. ^ Indiana Fish and Wildlife, Evaluation of Striped Bass Stockings at Harden Reservoir. Retrieved 10 June 2007.
  5. ^http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/fishing/waterbodies/display.asp?id=122
  6. ^ Kaiser Engineers, California, Final Report to the State of California, San Francisco Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Program, State of California, Sacramento, CA (1969)
  7. ^ "Executive Order 13449: Protection of Striped Bass and Red Drum Fish Populations". Office of the Federal Register. October 20, 2007. Retrieved October 24, 2007.
  8. ^ Chesapeake Bay Program, Striped Bass
  9. ^ Wilde, G. R. and L.J. Paulson. 1989. Food habits of subadult striped bass in Lake Mead Arizona-Nevada. The Southwestern Naturalist 34(1) 118-123.
  10. ^ Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Status of the Striped Bass/Hybrid Bass Bass Fishery March 2006 retrieved 10 June 2007.
  11. ^ Pennysylvania State Fish & Boat Commission, Gallery of Pennsylvania Fishes, Chapter 21. Retrieved 10 June 2007.
  12. ^ New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife
  13. ^ David DiBendetto, On The Run, An Angler's Journey Down the Striper Coast, page 195
  14. ^ "History of Freshwater Striped Bass". Retrieved 2010-03-01.
  15. ^ "Striped Bass in River Systems". Retrieved 2010-03-01.
  16. ^ "Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission: Striped Bass". Retrieved 2009-07-02.







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