LIFE HISTORY OF THE STRIPED BASS 
827 
Montgomery, Ala., and the Tangipahoe River, at Osyka, Miss., have been recorded as 
localities where the species has been taken previous to 1884. In recent years addi- 
tional distributions of the fish have been secured from the Tchefuncta River, La., from 
the Jordan and Wolf Rivers, Miss., and from various coastal streams along the west 
coast of Florida, from St. Marks to Pensacola. 4 On the Gulf coast the striped bass 
appears to be confined to fresh or brackish coastal rivers and is unknown in salt 
water. 
The introduction of the striped bass into California has provided a classic 
example of successful fish transplantation. From an initial stocking of 435 small fish, 
brought from New Jersey and liberated in San Francisco Bay in 1879, the species has 
Figube 1 . — Geographic distribution of striped bass, or roekfisb, Roccus saxalilis (Walbaum), within the United States. Circle 
numbers represent centers of commercial abundance. 
gradually extended its range to about 850 miles along the Pacific coast. It has become 
a favorite game fish among many sport fishermen and was reported as a commercial 
food fish in San Francisco within 10 years after its introduction. The favorite habitat 
of this species appears to be the fresh and brackish rivers and coastal estuaries. They 
range freely along the coast line but captures at sea are practically unknown. The 
record of a 6-pound striped bass, taken on Cod Ledge, 4 miles off Cape Elizabeth, 
Maine, on October 15, 1931, provides the most distant offshore record. 
ABUNDANCE 
The notes of early writers indicate that the striped bass formerly occurred in 
considerable abundance in areas now recognized as completely depleted of this fish. 
In addition to the striped bass conservation law, enacted in 1639 by the colonists of 
* The occurrence of considerable numbers of striped bass in various coastal streams of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida, bas 
been reliably reported to the author by Whitaker Riggs, of Covington, La., U. A. Cuevas, of Cuevas, Miss., and Robert O. Lincoln, 
of Minneapolis, Minn. 
