Animalia Life

Morone saxatilis
FAMILY
Moronidae
TAXONOMY
Morone saxatilis Walbaum, 1792, New York, United States. No subspecies are recognized.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Linesider, roccus, rock, rockfish, striped bass, striper bass; French: Bar d’Amйrique, bar rayй; Spanish: Lubina estriada.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
Maximum total length 6.6 ft (2 m). Body silver, with more or less interrupted, black, parallel stripes along the sides of the body.
DISTRIBUTION
Tributaries along the U.S. Atlantic coast, also Gulf of Mexico west to Louisiana; widely introduced throughout the United States and other countries.
HABITAT
Fresh and brackish bays and tributaries, also inland coastal waterways. Found in rivers during spawning.
BEHAVIOR
Social; typically lives in large size-graded schools. When handled or threatened, responds with grunts and clicks as it attempts an escape.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Carnivores; larvae feed on zooplankton, juveniles eat various invertebrates, and adults take invertebrates and fishes.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Broadcast spawners, produce fairly buoyant eggs during an annual reproductive season. Eggs are laid in moving water, which keeps the eggs afloat until they hatch in two to seven days. No parental care for eggs or young. Males reach maturity at about two to three years and 12–15 in (30.5–38 cm); females at about three to four years and 20–24 in (51–61 cm) long.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not threatened.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
Important sport and minor commercial food fishes.

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