Black seabass

name: black seabass, sea bass, blackfish

international: Black sea bass USA - Black seabass UK - Fanfre noir or Saint-Pierre France - Kalliomeriahven Finland - Perchia striata Italy - Schwarzer Zackenbarsch Germany - Serrano estriado Spain - Serrano-estriado Portugal- Svart havabbor Norway - Svart havsabborre Sweden

scientific name: Centropristis striata (LINNAEUS)

systematic: Actinopterygii Perciformes Serranidae

in situ image @ LEO15 site system (New Jersey, USA east coast) 2 miles off Tuckers Sand off the COUSTEAU RESERVE USA latitude: 39.404012 longitude: -74.218372 depth: 14 m reference image for in situ interactive identification key iSYS nondestructive length measurement: Lfork = 23 cm online weight calculation Wwet = 51 g

in typical hovering posture between instrumentation rig

lateral view slightly oblique (head more distant) caudal view with caudalis towards left

range: Maine to NE Florida, eastern Gulf of Mexico, in contrast to striped bass Morone saxatilis strictly confined to salt water, depths from a few feet to the 70 fathom line, appear off New Jersey inshore first weeks of May, withdrawing late October early November, winter offshore 30 to 70 fathoms at temperatures above 46 F, in sommer most abundant in less than 20 fathoms

FAO areas: Atlantic Northwest - Atlantic Western Central

habitat: rocky bottom in shallow water, rock jetty, often around wrecks, pilings

spawning: maturity 19 cm - middle May to end of June, eggs buoyant 0.95 mm diameter egg development time 1.6 days 23 degree Centigrade

size max: 50 cm 4.3 kg Lm 53 cm - Linf. 35.7 cm - K 0.4

length weight relationship: W = 0.0221 L 2.468

food: bottom feeder - crab, bluecrab, juvenile lobster, shrimp, mollusk, small fish, herring, menhaden, squid

respiration: 100 - 615 mg O2 kgwet-1 h-1

critical oxygen level: 65 % O2 saturation

lethal oxygen level: 5 % O2 saturation (rough estimate, needs to be confirmed)

color: vary widely, more or less mottled, belly only slightly paler than the sides, male bluish black except for white areas on head and edges of fins

diagnostic features: spiny and soft ray portions of dorsalis are continuous, so there is only one long fin instead of two short separate as in the wreck fish Polyprion americanus, scup Stenotomus chrysops, rose fish Sebastes marinus, cunner Tautogolabrus adspersus, tautog or striped bass Morone saxatilis - rounded caudalis and pectoralia, short but high analis, compared to tautog and cunner Tautogolabrus adspersus mouth much larger, also caudalis and pectoralia, and soft portion (11 rays) of dorsalis as long as spiny portion (10), compared to wreck fish scales are much larger, head outline and gill cover are smooth, caudalis rounded at the edges - stout-bodied, three times higher than long (without caudalis), high back, flat topped head, moderately pointed snout, large oblique mouth, eye set up high (not as high as in the in situ image above, due to its slightly oblique perspective), one sharp flat spine near the caudal end of the operculum - dorsalis originates anterior of caudal end of operculum, soft portion of dorsalis higher than long, caudalis rounded and in adults with elongated upper ray, analis originates below soft portion of dorsalis, which it resembles in its rounded shape and being higher than long (like mirrored in spread condition) - pectoralia very long nearly towards analis, rounded (best fieldmark), ventralia very large, originate posterior of pectoralia (whereas slightly caudad in scup Stenotomus chrysops, rose fish Sebastes marinus, cunner Tautogolabrus adspersus and tautog, below in wreck fish Polyprion americanus) - scales very large but head naked, adult males develop fatty bump in front of dorsalis

in situ behavior: often stationary or slowly / intermittently cruising around structures - occasionally rests on bottom or structures - sometimes head-down or head-up - enters smallest corners and caves - bodyangle above ground often ca. 40 degree down - dorsalis normally folded close to body, only spread out on aggressive posture reaction to other sea bass

information server RUTGERS UNIVERSITY Insitute of Marine and Coastal Sciences (http://marine.rutgers.edu/~kils/BASS/INDEX.HTM)

Project for children - build a fish mobile with a behavior (http://marine.rutgers.edu/~kils/BASS/mobile/INDEX.HTM)