We can all be educated consumers who make smart decisions for our health and the health of our environment. If you want to do your own research, check out the following resources:
Seafood Watch is a great resource for sustainable and healthy seafood recommendations. When you are ready to purchase and consume seafood, consult this site or application, but remember, much of your plate should consist of fruits and veggies. Overconsumption of most things, from red meat to coffee, can be toxic.
The Southern Regional Aquaculture Center (SRAC) has a wealth of information concerning aquaculture of the hybrid striped bass and other fish and aquatic life.
Read about economic sustainability in aquaculture: Expert Opinions on Critical Production Factors for Sustained Growth of the Hybrid Striped Bass Industry
Read about the biology and history: Hybrid Striped Bass Biology and Life History
Read about feed: Improving Feeds for Hybrid Striped Bass
Terms and Definitions
Aquaculture is a culture, with its own language! You are likely an educated reader, but some of these terms are only second language to people who spend their lives studying ecology. So take a look at our list of terms and definitions that will make it easier for you to read this information without a dictionary.
Anadromous: describes a fish that is born in freshwater, lives most of its life in sea, and returns to freshwater to spawn.
Aquaculture (or aquafarming): the farming of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, and aquatic plants. Aquaculture involves cultivating freshwater and saltwater populations under controlled conditions, and can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is the harvesting of wild fish.
Broodstock (or broodfish): a group of mature fish used in aquaculture for breeding purposes. Broodstock can be a population of animals maintained as a source of replacement for, or enhancement of, seed and fry numbers.
Fingerling: a fish that has reached the stage where the fins can be extended and where scales have started developing throughout the body. In this stage, the fish is typically about the size of a finger.
Fishery: organization engaged in raising or harvesting fish, which is determined by some authority to be a fishery.
Foodfish: fish that is produced specifically for human consumption.
Fry: a recently hatched fish that has reached the stage where its yolk-sac has almost disappeared and its swim bladder is operational to the point where the fish can actively feed itself.
Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG): the hormone used to induce final maturation and ovulation of the white bass eggs, and to enhance sperm production in male striped bass.
Juvenile: the time fish spend developing from fry into reproductively mature adults varies among species. Most fish do not survive to become adults. Threats to survival include fluctuations in water temperature, changes in oxygen levels, competition for habitat and predators.
Original Cross (also known as the Palmetto Cross): the crossing of a female striped bass and a male white bass.
Oviparous: describes egg-laying animals.
Predacious: describes fish that eat other fish or aquatic life.
Prey Fish: Forage fish, also called prey fish or bait fish, are small pelagic fish. Predators include other larger fish, seabirds, and marine mammals. Typical ocean prey fish feed near the base of the food chain on plankton, often by filter feeding.
Reciprocal Cross (also known as the Sunshine Cross): the crossing of a male striped bass and female white bass.
Rotifers: minute, multicellular aquatic animals, which make up a phylum of microscopic and near-microscopic pseudo coelomate. These animals can be found in many freshwater environments in the thin films formed around soil particles.
Sportfish: fish used primarily for catching and releasing, sometimes consumed by sport fisherman.
Wiper, Whiterock Bass, Rock Fish, Cherokee Cross: other names for the hybrid striped bass.