408 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



outline and in being higher than long. Both the 

 anal fin and the soft part of the dorsal are notice- 

 ably soft and flexible. The pectorals are so long 

 ' that they reach back almost, if not quite to the 

 anal, broad and round tipped; a good field mark. 

 The ventrals, too, are larger than in any other fish 

 with which the sea bass might be confused, and 

 they originate in front of the pectorals, whereas 

 they stand slightly behind the latter in scup, rose- 

 fish, cunner, and tautog. The scales are rather 

 large, but the top of the head is naked. Adult 

 males develop a fatty hump on the back in front 

 of the dorsal fin. 



C0I01 . — Sea bass, like most fish that he on rocky 

 bottom, vary widely in color, the general ground 

 tint ranging from smoky gray to dusky brown or 

 blue black, usually more or less mottled. The 

 belly is only slightly paler than the sides. On 

 every sea bass we have seen the bases of the ex- 

 posed parts of the scales are paler than their mar- 

 gins, giving the fish the appearance of being barred 

 with longitudinal series of dots of a lighter tint of 

 brown than the general hue on dark fish, but pearl 

 gray on pale ones. The dorsal fin is marked with 

 several series of whitish spots and bands; the other 

 fins are mottled with dusky. Young fish 2 or 3 

 inches long are greenish or brownish with a dark 

 side stripe passing from eye to caudal fin, and 

 with dark cross bars on the sides. 



Size. — Sea bass grow to a length of 2 feet or more 

 and a few reach a weight of 7K pounds; but north- 

 ern specimens are seldom heavier than 5 pounds, 

 and they average only about 1^ pounds. A fish 

 a foot long weighs about one pound, one of 18 to 

 20 inches about 3 pounds. 



Habits. — The sea bass contrasts with the striped 

 bass in being strictly confined to salt water. Its 

 inshore-offshore range extends from close in to the 

 coast line, in depths of only a few feet, out about 

 to the 70-fathom contour line, according to the 

 season of the year. Off New Jersey, Long Island, 

 and southern New England they appear inshore 

 during the first or second week in May, withdraw- 

 ing again late in October or early in November. 



They winter offshore along the 30- to 70-fathom 

 zone; the depth and the distance offshore being 

 governed, it seems, by a preference for tempera- 

 tures higher than about 46°-47°. 32 



It seems, too, that some of the population that 

 summers off New Jersey and to the northward 

 may combine this offshore movement with a 

 southward migration, for sea bass form a consider- 

 able part of the catches that are made by the winter 

 trawl fishery off Virginia and northern North Car- 

 olina from January to April, 33 whereas they have 

 been taken in small numbers only (though widely 

 dispersed) off southern New England at that time 

 of year. 34 



During the part of the year when the sea bass 

 are inshore they are most plentiful on hard bottom, 

 in water less than 20 fathoms or so, often around 

 submerged wrecks and the pilings of wharves. 

 They are bottom feeders, subsisting chiefly on 

 crabs, lobsters, shrimp, and various mollusks. 

 They also eat small fish (e. g., launce and men- 

 haden), and squid on occasion. And they take 

 a hook readily. 



The sea bass spawn in May along the North 

 Carolina coast ; from the middle of May to the end 

 of June off New Jersey, off Long Island, and off 

 southern New England. The eggs are buoyant. 36 

 The young fry are easily identifiable as sea bass 

 by the time they have grown to a length of 2% 

 inches (60 mm.) or so. 



General range. — Atlantic coastal waters of the 

 United States, from northern Florida to Cape Cod, 

 occasionally to Maine. 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine. — The sea bass 

 enters our Gulf only as a rare stray from the south, 

 Pemaquid Point and Matinicus Island being its 

 nothernmost known outposts. It has been taken 

 in Casco Bay; near Gloucester (where a few have 

 been caught in the traps) ; off Nahant, Salem, and 

 Beverly in Massachusetts Bay; at North Truro 

 and at Monomoy on Cape Cod; and 5 miles east 

 of Pollock Eip Lightship, where a 5-pound fish 

 was trawled in 24 fathoms, December 1930. 38 

 But it has never been found in any numbers north 

 of the elbow of Cape Cod so far as we can learn. 

 We have never seen it in the Massachusetts Bay 

 region, nor are fishermen of whom we have in- 

 quired familiar with it there. Sea bass, it is true, 



» Neville, Fishery Circular No. 18, U. S. Bur. Fish., 1935, p. 3-7. 



33 For quantities caught and other details, see Pearson, Investigational 

 Report No. 10, U. S. Bur. Fish., 1932. 



« We counted from 1 to 25 sea bass per haul in 31 out of 45 trawl hauls made 

 by the dragger Eugene H off Rhode Island and off southern Massachusetts, 

 in 46 to 67 fathoms. Jan. 27 to Feb. 3, 1950. 



>> The early development of the sea bass has been described by Wilson (Bull 

 U. S. Fish Comm., vol. 9, 1891, p. 209). 



- Reported by Firth, Bull. 61, Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., 1931, p. 12. 



