Unless landlocked, striped bass are anadromous; i.e., "spawning in fresh water
and then either remaining in cold-water thermal refugia in streams or returning
to brackish, estuarine waters or marine environments".
Intrusion of salt water into traditional freshwater river spawning sites can
induce high mortalities to striped bass eggs and larvae.
Water temperature signals spawning time, with some spawning occurring at 55
degrees, but most at 60 to 67 degrees.
Striped bass eggs are greenish and have a large oil globule and are semi-buoyant.
Depending on system-specific stream flow conditions, adult striped bass can and
do move considerable distances upstream prior to spawn, so that their eggs will
experience adequate downstream "drift".
During spawning, seven or eight smaller males surround a single, large,
female and bump her to swifter currents at the water surface over stony riffles,
in what appears to be a battle, but it is actually frantic spawning antics and
frenzied swimming–the striped bass’s courtship and spawning ritual.
Striped bass spawn near the surface in water 1-20 ft.
When the eggs are broadcasted in the river, they drift downstream. This "drift"
necessitates free flowing stream conditions for approximately 48 - 72 hours
which is important to pre-larval survival.
After fertilization, striped bass eggs swell to a size of 3.6 mm,
about 3 times their original diameter
The eggs hatch in 2-3 days depending on the water temperature.
Newly hatched fish are about 5.5 mm long.
After absorbing the yolk-sac, they feed on zooplankton (tiny invertebrates
suspended in the water).
Striped bass eggs that sink to the bottom die, because they become covered with
silt or because of other factors.
Fertilized eggs must be carried by river currents until hatching to avoid this.
Just-hatched striped bass grow rapidly and stay in brackish bays at the end of
their downstream float.
Male striped bass become mature at about two years of age, with the
females usually ready to spawn in their fourth year, when they are 18 to 24
inches long.
Young females may average 65,000 eggs.
More than three million have been recorded for a 50 lb female!
About 100,000 eggs is more typical
Flowing water is critical to the success of striped bass spawning.
That helps explain why there is no reproduction or little natural reproduction
of the fish when they are confined to inland lakes.
Striped bass are carnivores and take progressively larger prey as they grow.
They eat a variety of invertebrates such as insect larvae, marine worms, and
crustaceans as well as many kinds of schooling fishes, especially herring and
gaspereau.
Unlike stripers which may travel coastal waters for six years before returning
to their natal areas to spawn
Striped bass first reach maturity at 6 to 10 pounds, though many run from 15 to
50 pounds on the spawning grounds Some years ago, research by Ed Houde at the
UMCES Chesapeake Biological Lab showed that in addition to considerably more
eggs per pound, larger striped bass produced higher quality eggs.
Houde's findings were for wild stripers. Studies of captive striped bass by
Yonathan Zohar showed that when spawning for the first time, striped bass
generally do not produce good quality eggs. "They have low fertilization if
any," says Zohar, "or they just do not hatch." The reasons have to do with a
lack of full maturity of the endocrine systems.
Commercial Research on
Spawning Striped Bass
Domesticating
Striped Bass Broodstock
Rutgers biologist doing
studies on Striped bass Spawning
Fresh water lakes and rivers known to have a natural producing population of Striped Bass
Lake Texoma
Arkansas River
Red River
Lake Mead
Kerr Reservoir
Santee
Weise
Colorado River
ArkansasStripers.com
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