A powerful anadromous game fish of the Atlantic coast, central to East Coast sport fishing.
Where it lives
Striped bass — “stripers” — inhabit Atlantic coastal waters from Nova Scotia to Florida, with major spawning runs into the Chesapeake Bay, Hudson River, and Delaware River. Some populations remain landlocked in southern reservoirs. Adults run far up rivers in spring to spawn in fresh or barely brackish water.
How to recognise it
A long, robust body with a steel-gray back, silvery flanks, and seven to eight crisp dark horizontal stripes running from gill to tail. Two distinct dorsal fins, the first spiny. The body deepens with age; trophy fish over a meter and 20 kg are sometimes called “cows.”
Diet & behavior
Stripers are pack-hunting predators that herd schools of menhaden, herring, sand eels, and bay anchovy into bait balls. They also take eels, crabs, and squid. Spawning happens in freshwater tributaries in late spring; pelagic eggs drift downstream to brackish nurseries.
Fisheries & Conservation
Globally Least Concern. Atlantic populations collapsed in the 1980s, recovered dramatically under strict regulation, and now face renewed conservation concern requiring further catch reductions.