LIFE HISTORY OF THE STRIPED BASS 
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ranged from 50-78 cm (19.7-30.7 in.). No females under 4 years of age were obtained 
with eggs. The smallest fish taken in these collections probably represent the mini- 
mum size of spawning fish in both sexes. The largest fish taken do not represent the 
maximum size which the species attains because the samples were limited to 15 pounds, 
about 32 inches in length, by legal-size restrictions. The length-frequency distri- 
butions for these striped bass are given in figure 2. 
There appears to be many more mature male than female fish on the spawning 
grounds and the average size of the males is much smaller than that of the females. 
Both numerical superiority and smaller size of the males may be due to their earlier 
age at maturity. It was observed by Worth (1903), at Weldon, that where the female 
fish are in spawning condition the males gather around them in great numbers and 
there will be 1 large female, weighing from 5-50 pounds, surrounded by 20-50 small 
males weighing not more than 2 pounds each. A somewhat similar predominance of 
small males was also noted at Weldon by the writer in May 1937. 
EGGS AND YOUNG 
The number of eggs spawned by the striped bass was calculated by Worth (1904), 
who found a total of 14,000 eggs in a 3-pound fish and 3,220,000 eggs in a 50-pound 
fish. The Manual of Fish Culture (1900) estimated 1,280,000 eggs from a 12-pound 
striped bass taken in the Susquehanna River in 1897. This estimate is closely approx- 
imated by volumetric measurement of the eggs taken from a 1 3-pound fish, measuring 
70 cm (27.5 in.) in length, on May 14, 1932, at Havre de Grace, Md. The count 
totaled 1,337,000 eggs. 
No complete description of the eggs and young of the striped bass has been avail- 
able, despite frequent artificial propagation of the species. Various writers have 
offered partial descriptions of the eggs and fry, however, based on fish-cultural oper- 
ations . 7 
A series of eggs and larvae of the striped bass was obtained during May 1931, at 
Weldon, N. C., through the artificial fertilization and hatching of the eggs at this 
point on the Roanoke River by the Bureau of Fisheries and the State of North Caro- 
lina. Samples of eggs and larvae were preserved in a weak formalin solution at 12 hour 
intervals after the fertilization of the eggs. The eggs were stripped from a ripe female 
at the fishing grounds, fertilized by the usual dry-pan method, and placed in McDonald 
hatching jars supplied with filtered river water within 30 minutes after fertilization. 
The eggs were taken and fertilized about 10 p. m. on May 5 and hatched in approx- 
imately 48 hours at a water temperature averaging 64.2° F. during the incubation 
period. 
No effort was made to rear the larvae through the introduction of food and con- 
sequently all young fish had perished by 312 hours after fertilization of the eggs. 
Successful attempts were made during May and June 1937, at Weldon and Edenton, 
N. C., to rear the larval striped bass in aquaria and outdoor ponds through the intro- 
duction of natural foods such as Daphnia. These rearing experiments provided addi- 
tional specimens of larval and post-larval fish . 8 
The eggs of the striped bass immediately after fertilization are spherical, nonad- 
hesive, and measure 1.28-1.36 mm in diameter after preservation. The eggs are 
7 These writers include Ferguson and Hugblett (1880), Worth (1882) (1883), Ryder (1885), Scofield and Coleman (1907), Bigelow 
and Welsh (1924), and Scofield (1931). 
s The author expresses appreciation to W. C. Bunch for the time and care spent in the preservation of the series of eggs and larvae 
and Louella E. Cable for the painstaking and accurate drawings contained in this report. 
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