MANUAL OF FISH-CULTURE. 185 



THE STRIPED BASS AND THE WHITE PERCH. 



The striped bass, or rocklisb (Roccus lineaUis), ranges from iSTew 

 Brunswick to western Florida. It is especially abundant from Xew 

 York to North Carolina, and is taken in large quantities for market, by 

 means of seines, gill nets, pound nets, and lines, on the coast and in 

 the bays, sounds, and rivers. It is one of the best food-fishes of 

 American waters. The annual value of the catch is about $300,000. 



Through the efforts of the Commission, this fish has been introduced 

 into the waters of California, where it has become very abundant; it 

 occurs along almost the entire coast of that State, but is most numerous 

 in San Francisco Bay and tributaries. It supports a special fishery, 

 and the estimated catch in 1897 was about 1,000,000 pounds. It meets 

 with ready sale, and is one of the most popular fishes of the west coast. 



The striped bass attains a weight of over 100 pounds; examples 

 weighing 50 to 75 pounds are not uncommon ; but the usual size of those 

 taken for market is 3 to 20 pounds. Its form, size, and markings make 

 it readily distinguishable from other fishes. The color of the body 

 is light silvery-green above, white below, with seven or eight blackish 

 stripes along the sides. 



The striped bass passes most of its time in salt water, but in spring 

 ascends the rivers to spawn. Important spawning-grounds are the 

 tributaries of Albemarle Sound, Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay, and 

 New York Bay. The eggs are sometimes deposited quite near the ocean, 

 in brackish or salt water. The number that may be deposited by a 

 single fish is immense; a fish weighing only 12 pounds, caught at the 

 mouth of the Susquehanna liiver, in May, 1897, yielded 1,280,000 good 

 eggs, and a 75-pound fish would doubtless produce 10,000,000 eggs. 



The commercial imi)ortance of the striped bass and its comparative 

 scarcity in some waters in which it formerly abounded make its culti- 

 vation very desirable, and its eggs have been artificially impregnated 

 and hatched on several occasions; but difficulty has been experienced 

 in finding a locality Avhere ripe eggs can be regularly taken in large 

 quantities. The eggs are free, transparent, and semi-buoyant, about 

 4 of an inch in diameter, and have a very large oil-globule. In quiet 

 water they gradually sink to the bottom of a vessel and remain there, 

 but a very slight agitation of the water causes them to rise and remain 

 in suspension for some time. The number in a quart is about 21,000. 



The tidal apparatus, such as is used for cod and tautog eggs, is 

 adapted to hatching the eggs of this fish. At a mean temperature 

 of 58° F., the hatching period is about 74 hours. A large oil-globule in 

 the anterior jKirt of the yolk-sac causes the younger fry to assume a 

 perpendicular position, with the head toward the surface of the water. 



The white ])erch {Morone americana) belongs to the same family as 

 the striped bass, and closely resembles it in range, habits, and character 

 of the eggs; but it is much smaller and less valuable commercially. 



