THE STEIPBD BASS FAMILY. 425 



142. THE STRIPED BASS— ROCCUS LINEATUS. 



Geographioal distribution. — The Striped Bass, as has been already stated, occurs in 

 all the waters of our coast from latitude 50° to latitude 30°. In the North it is called the 

 "Striped Bass," in the South the "Eock-flsh" or the "Eock." The neutral territory where both 

 these names are in use appears to be Kew Jersey. The fishermen of the Delaware use the latter 

 name, those of the sea-coast the former. Large sea-going individuals are sometimes known in 

 New England by the names "Green-head" and "Squid-hound." There is still some uncertainty 

 regarding the southern limits of the distribution of this species. In the Saint John's Eiver, 

 Florida, they are very unusual. Though familiar in the fisheries of that region since 1873, I have 

 only known of the capture of two individuals. Mr. Stearns has obtained one or two specimens in 

 the Gulf of Mexico, and gives an account of the degree of their abundance in those waters. He 

 writes : " They are occasionally caught on the northern shores of the Gulf, and are evidently more 

 common about the mouths of the Mississippi Eiver than elsewhere, since they are taken in this 

 region only in seines, and in shallow water their abundance cannot be correctly determined. The 

 earliest account I have been able to obtain of the capture of Striped Bass in Pensacola Bay is that 

 of Capt. John Washington, of Mystic, Connecticut, who states that in 1850, while seine-fishing from 

 the smack ' Francis Parkes,' he surrounded with his seine a large school of fish, which were quite 

 unmanageable; a few of them were saved, and proved to be large Striped Bass, weighing from 

 fifteen to forty pounds. At long intervals since solitary individuals have been taken at various 

 points on the coast. At New Orleans it is found in the market quite often. An eighteen-pound 

 specimen was sold there in March, 1880." 



In Hallock's "Sportsman's Gazetteer" the following statement occurs: "It is constantly seen 

 in rivers of fresh water at great distances from the ocean, even as far up the Mississippi as Saint 

 Louis, and it is common in White Eiver, Arkansas, and in all the rivers of the Southern States." 



While there can be no question that straggling individuals of this species have been taken in 

 the Gulf of Mexico, it seems probable that both Mr. Stearns and Mr. Hallock have been mistaken 

 by the resemblance of this species to the Brassy Bass, Boccus interruptus, which abounds through- 

 out the Lower Mississippi Valley. 



Canadian authorities inform us that, though the Bass still occur along the New Brunswick and 

 Nova Scotia shores of the Gulf, they are much less abundant and of smaller size than formerly. 

 They have been known to ascend the Saint Lawrence as far as Quebec, and Mr. Eoosevelt has 

 seen a specimen, a female fish, which was taken in the Niagara Eiver, near Lewiston. The Bass 

 is most abundant in the bays and inlets about Cape Hatteras, in the Chesapeake and Delaware 

 Bay region, and in the protected waters of Long Island and Southern New England. In winter 

 t"hey occur in considerable numbers in the Altamaha Eiver, and are not unusual in the markets 

 of Charleston, South Carolina. 



Habits. — The Striped Bass is not migratory, being found along our coast in winter as well as 

 in summer, and in our markets in every month of the year. Great quantities are taken in winter 

 in the rivers tributary to the Chesapeake, and in the rivers of New Brunswick quantities of them 

 are speared through holes in the ice. During the past four years I have known of their capture in 

 Long Island and Block Island Sounds and in the Merrimac Eiver in December, and in Martha's 

 Vineyard Sound and the lower part of the Hudson Eiver in January. Though they appear to 

 avoid a temperature higher than 65° or 70° they are not sensitive to cold, and there is good 

 evidence that they frequently, when detained throughout the winter in shallow places, enter upon 

 a state of torpidity. 



Food. — ^They are very voracious feeders. Entering the rivers, they prey upon small fishes. 



