A STRAIN COMPARISON OF STRIPED BASS CULTURED IN RECIRCULATING SYSTEMS AT DIFFERENT SALINITIES  

Striped bass and their hybrids are widely cultured in freshwater ponds. Few studies, however, have compared production characteristics in different saline environments or among geographic strains.  In part one, striped bass juveniles produced from wild-caught broodstock from rivers in Delaware, Florida, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia were reared in triplicate salt water (30 ppt) recirculating systems for 12 months. At 30- day intervals, a minimum of 20% of the fish from each tank were sampled for growth parameters, and feeding rates were adjusted for tank biomass. After one year of age, the growth parameters of remaining fish were determined and a subset were PIT tagged, combined into a larger, "common-garden," salt water, recirculating system and growth parameters monitored over an additional year.  In part two, a selected strain of juveniles originating from NCSU were acquired as well as juveniles produced from wild caught fish from North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Florida and Nova Scotia. All fish were reared in triplicate fresh (0ppt), brackish (5ppt) and saltwater recirculating (30ppt) systems. Fin clips from adult broodstock and all juvenile fish were collected and analyzed using 11 microsatellite markers, to determine parental contributions and identify families. Specific growth rates, feed conversion ratios and other parameters were calculated for each strain and differences among families were evaluated.  Preliminary analyses confirmed significant growth differences among geographic strains and between salinities.  

This research was funded by the Northeastern Regional Aquaculture Center