Striped Bass
Best Action: May-July
Morphology and lifespan:
The striped bass is a typical member of the Moronidae family in shape, having a streamlined, silvery body marked with longitudinal dark stripes running from behind the gills to the base of the tail. Maximum size is 200 cm (6.6 ft) and maximum scientifically recorded weight 57 kg (125 US pounds). Striped bass are believed to live for up to 30 years.
Natural distribution:
Striped bass are found along the Atlantic coastline of North America from the St. Lawrence River into the Gulf of Mexico to approximately Louisiana. They are anadromous fish that migrate between fresh and salt water. Spawning takes place in freshwater.
Introductions outside their natural range:
Striped bass have been introduced into many of the large reservoir impoundments across the United States by state game and fish commissions for the purposes of recreational fishing and as a predator to control populations of gizzard shad. Striped bass have also been introduced into waters in Ecuador, Iran, Latvia, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, and Turkey primarily for sport fishing and aquaculture.
Environmental factors:
The spawning success of striped bass has been studied in the San Francisco Bay-Delta water system, with a finding that high total dissolved solids (TDS) reduce spawning. At levels as low as 200 mg/L TDS there is an observable diminution of spawning productivity.
President of the United States George W. Bush in an Executive Order on October 20, 2007 designated the Striped Bass as a protected game fish. This prohibits sale of Striped Bass caught in Federal waters and encourages states to consider designating Striped Bass as a protected game fish within state waters.
Life cycle:
Striped bass spawn in freshwater and spend their adult lives in saltwater (i.e., it is anadromous). They can also live exclusively in freshwater and currently flourish in inland water bodies such as Lake Ouachita, Lake Norfork, Beaver Lake and Lake Hamilton in Arkansas Lake Murray, Lake Powell, Lake Havasu, Lake Texoma and Lake Mead. For saltwater striped bass, four important bodies of water with breeding stocks of striped bass are: Chesapeake Bay, Massachusetts Bay/Cape Cod, Hudson River and Delaware River.The Arkansas river contains a successful spawning population of Striped Bass and there are many smaller breeding areas that contribute to the overall striped bass population such as the Takanasse Lake. It is believed that many of the rivers and tributaries that emptied into the Atlantic, had at one time, breeding stock of striped bass. One of the largest breeding areas is the Chesapeake Bay, where populations from Chesapeake and Delaware bays have intermingled.
Bluefish
Best Action: May-September
Description:
The bluefish is a moderately proportioned fish, with a broad, forked tail. The spiny first dorsal fin is normally folded back in a groove, as are its pectoral fins. Coloration is a grayish blue-green dorsally, fading to white on the lower sides and belly. Its single row of teeth in each jaw are uniform in size, knife-edged and sharp. Bluefish commonly range in size from seven inch (18 cm) “snappers” to as much as forty pounds (18 kg), though fish heavier than twenty pounds (9 kg) are exceptional.
Distribution and habitat:
Bluefish are migratory marine fish, found worldwide in tropic and temperate seas, except for the eastern shores of the Pacific. On the western side of the Atlantic, their range is from Argentina to Nova Scotia. They are found off Africa, and in the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Bluefish are generally found in bays and sandy bottomed near-shore waters. Migrating fish may be encountered in as much as 200 foot (60 m) depths. Depending on conditions such as water temperature and atmospheric pressure, bluefish may be found nearly anywhere in the water column, from just above the bottom to just below the surface.
United States migration patterns:
Bluefish are found off Florida in the winter months. By April, they have disappeared, heading north. By June, they may be found off Massachusetts; in years of high abundance, stragglers may be found as far north as Nova Scotia. By October, they leave New England waters, heading south.
Life history:
Bluefish larvae are the size of zooplankton and are largely at the mercy of currents. Spent bluefish have been found off east central Florida, migrating north. As with most marine fish, their spawning habits are not well known. In the western side of the North Atlantic, there are at least two populations, separated by Cape Hatteras in North Carolina. The Gulf Stream can carry larvae spawned to the south of Cape Hatteras to the north, and eddies can spin off, carrying the larvae into populations found off the coast of the mid-Atlantic, and the New England states. The bluefish population is highly cyclical, with abundance varying widely over a span of ten years or more.
Bluefin Tuna
Best Action: Late June-September
The northern bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus), or giant bluefin tuna, is a species of tuna native to both the western and eastern Atlantic Ocean, as well as the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. Although not native to the Pacific Ocean, the species is now commercially cultivated off the Japanese coast. Northern bluefin tuna can live 30 years. Due to overfishing of this species, few known specimens grow to a mature age and typical specimens average one meter (3.3 ft) long and about 35 kg (77 lb) in weight. The largest recorded specimen was caught off Nova Scotia and recorded at 680 kg (1,500 lb). The species can reach a maximum length of about 4.3 meters (14 feet). Bluefin tuna are caught by sports fishermen using heavy-duty rod and reels and by commercial fishermen using purse seine gear. The northern bluefin tuna is an important commercial species, especially for sushi. It is this commercial importance that has led to severe overfishing of bluefin tuna stocks. The species is currently classified as critically endangered, and consumers have been recommended to avoid consumption of bluefin tuna until stocks recover. Canned tuna and tuna steaks originate from other species.
The species was in the past called the common tunny. It is often referred to simply as the “bluefin” or “bluefin tuna”, but this name is ambiguous as it is also sometimes used for the southern bluefin tuna, Thunnus maccoyii, and the Pacific bluefin tuna, T. orientalis. Even the preferred name, northern bluefin tuna, is not unambiguous, because this is sometimes used for the longtail tuna T. tonggol. In Australia, canned T. tonggol can and is legally sold under the name “Northern bluefin tuna”. This is also true in New Zealand and Fiji, although canned tuna is less common there.
The body of the northern bluefin tuna is cigar-shaped and robust. The head is conical and the mouth rather large. They typically prey on small fish such as sardines, herring, mackerel, squid and crustaceans. The color is dark blue above and gray below. Northern bluefin tuna can easily be distinguished from other members of the tuna family by the relatively short length of their pectoral fins. Their livers have a unique and definitive characteristic in that they are covered with blood vessels (striated). In other tunas with short pectoral fins, such vessels are either not present or present in small numbers along the edges.
The northern bluefin tuna is an important source of seafood, providing most of the tuna used in sushi. It is a particular delicacy in Japan where the price of a single giant tuna can exceed $100,000 on the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo. It is also popular in Taiwan, particularly in the town of Tungkang. As a result, some fisheries of bluefin are considered overfished, and this problem is compounded by the bluefin’s slow growth rate and late maturity. The Atlantic population of the species has declined by nearly 90 percent since the 1970s. The bluefin species are consequently listed as ones to “Avoid” on the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program.
The tetraphyllidean tapeworm Pelichnibothrium speciosum has been found to parasitize this species (Scholz et al. 1998). As the tapeworm’s definite host is the blue shark which does not generally seem to feed on tuna[citation needed], it is likely that the northern bluefin tuna is a dead-end host for P. speciosum.
Atlantic Bonito
Best Action: July-September
Atlantic bonito belong to a group which have the dorsal fins very near, or separated by a narrow interspace. It has the body completely scaled with those scales in the pectoral fin area and the lateral line usually larger in size. Bonitos (fishes in the genus Sarda) differ from tuna by their compressed bodies, by having no teeth on the roof of the mouth, and by certain coloring differences.
Atlantic bonito share Atlantic waters with the striped bonito, Sarda orientalis (the Atlantic population of which is sometimes considered a separate species, Sarda velox). The striped bonito has been taken on the Atlantic coast as far north as Block Island. It is similar in its habits, but somewhat smaller than the more common Atlantic bonito. The Atlantic bonito can be distinguished from its relative by its dark oblique stripes on the back and with a maxillary only about half as long as the head; whereas the striped bonito has striping on its topside nearly horizontal and a maxillary more than half the length of the head.
Atlantic bonito grow up to 30 inches (0.75 m) and weighs 10 to 12 pounds (4.5–5.5 kg) at this size.
Habits:
It is a strong swimmer. Normally it travels in fairly large schools and is common offshore in the vicinity of New York City where it is known as “skipjack” because of its habit of jumping from the water. (However, the name “skipjack” more commonly refers to the skipjack tuna, Katsuwonus pelamis.) The spawning season is June and specimens 5 or 6 inches (13–15 cm) long are taken in September off Long Island.
