FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



395 



about 12 inches (30 cm.) in June, and about 14% 

 inches (37 cm.) in October; the 3-year-olds about 

 15% inches (40 cm.) in spring and about 18 inches 

 (46 cm.) in October, while 4-year-olds increased 

 in length from about 18% inches (48 cm.) to about 

 20% inches (53 cm.) between spring and autumn, 

 on the average. 62 And the average rate of growth 

 was about the same for Hudson River fish ex- 

 amined by Greeley. 63 But the rate at which they 

 grow is governed largely by the food supply. 

 Bass in captivity have been known to grow from 

 6 inches long to 20 inches in 11 months, while 

 some that were kept in a certain pond in Rhode 

 Island are described as having gained weight from 

 1 pound in June to 6 pounds in October. 64 



The later growth rate has not been traced for 

 our Atlantic bass. But it is generally believed 

 that the 3 5-50-pound ers that were caught in 

 considerable numbers in 1950, and are being taken 

 in 1951, were members of the very successful year 

 classes of 1940-1942, which fits well with the 

 growth rate of bass on the Pacific coast, where the 

 average age is about 7 years for 20-pound fish, 

 10-11 years for 30-pounders, about 14 years for 

 40 pounders, and 17 to 18 years for 50-pounders. 66 



On the Pacific coast females grow faster than 

 males after the third year, which is probably true 

 of the Atlantic bass also. 66 This certainly is a 

 long-lived fish for one kept in the New York 

 Aquarium lived to be 23 years old. 67 



Merriman M found that "approximately 25 per- 

 cent of the female striped bass first spawn just 

 as they are becoming 4 years old, that about 75 

 percent are mature as they reach 5 years of age, 

 and that 95 percent have attained maturity by 

 the time they are 6 years old," among Connecti- 

 cut fish. But a large percentage of the males 

 had matured at 2 years, probably nearly all of 

 them by the time they were 3 years old. And 

 it is probable that this applies equally to the 

 Maine bass. Merriman has also made the inter- 

 esting discovery that only about one-tenth of the 

 bass of northern waters are males, but that males 



* Merriman, Copeia, 1937, p. 23. 



*» New York Conscrv. Dept., Biol. Surv. Lower Hudson Watershed, 1937, 

 p. 62. 



» Bean, Bull. New York State Mus., 60, Zool. 9, 1903, p. 527. 



" Scaled from Scofleld's graph (California Fish and Game, vol. 18, 1932, 

 pp. 168-170, fig. 38). 



" See Scofield, Fish Bull. No. 29, Div. of Fish and Oame, California, 

 1931 for growth of bass in California. 



« Bull. New York Zool. Soc., vol. 16, No. 60, November 1913, p. 1049. 



18 Fish. Bull. No. 35, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1941, vol. 50, p. 22. 



are nearly as numerous as females, southward 

 from Delaware Bay. 



It has been suggested that the striper may not 

 be a regularly yearly spawner, 69 but no positive 

 evidence is at hand as to this. 



General range. — Atlantic coast of eastern North 

 America, from the lower St. Lawrence River and 

 the southern side of the Gulf of St. Lawrence 

 to northern Florida; also along the northern shore 

 of the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Alabama and 

 Louisiana; running up into brackish or fresh 

 water to breed. 60 In the last quarter of the 19th 

 century it was introduced on the Pacific coast, 

 where its range extends now from Grays Harbor, 

 Wash., 61 to Los Angeles County, Calif. It is now 

 a favorite game fish there, and the yearly commer- 

 cial catch since World War I ran between 500,000 

 and about 1,000,000 pounds there, until 1935, 

 wben commercial fishing for stripers was pro- 

 hibited by the State of California. 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine. — The range of 

 the striper includes the coastline of our Gulf from 

 Cape Cod to western Nova Scotia. But its dis- 

 tribution there in detail is determined by its very 

 evident preference for surf-swept beaches and for 

 particular stretches of rocky or bouldery shoreline; 

 also for shallow bays, inlets, and estuaries. The 

 geographic status of bass in our Gulf also depends 

 on whether it be a good bass year (or run of years) 

 or a poor one. 



When bass are reasonably plentiful, as they have 

 been during the past 15 years, and with a good 

 representation of fish of different ages, the outer 

 shore of Cape Cod provides the most productive 

 surf casting, with Monomoy Island, the general 

 vicinity of Nauset Inlet, and the tip of the Cape 

 northward from Highland Light perhaps the 

 warmest stretches, in most years. But the topog- 

 raphy of a beach may be altered to such an extent 

 during severe storms that a stretch that is good 

 bass water one summer may be poor the next. 

 Nauset beach is an example, for very few bass 

 have been caught or seen there during the present 

 summer (1951), though this has been one of the 

 most productive localities on the Cape during the 

 past few summers. Considerable numbers, mostly 



'• Merriman, Fish. Bull. No. 35, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1941, 

 vol. 60, p. 16. 



» Pearson (Bull. TJ. S. Bur. Fish., vol. 49, 1938, p. 827, fig. 1) charts its 

 United States range, but does not include its Canadian range. 



" Oerlach (Contrlb. 14, Oregon Fish. Comm., 1950) gives an interesting 

 account of the life history and distribution of the striper in Oregon waters. 



