Striped Bass
Morone saxatilis
- Look for 7–8 dark horizontal stripes running along the sides from just behind the gills all the way to the base of the tail. These bold lines are the fish's most obvious feature.
- The body is streamlined and silvery overall, giving it a bright, chrome-like appearance when you pull it from the water.
- Unlike many similar-looking fish, the stripes on a striped bass are continuous and run lengthwise (not diagonal or broken into spots), making them easy to trace from head to tail.
- This is a large, thick-bodied fish. Typical catches run 20 to 35 inches and 5 to 20 pounds, so sheer size alone can help separate it from smaller, similarly marked species.