Recruitment Dynamics of Striped Bass in the Santee–Cooper System, South Carolina

Abstract

We hypothesized that most recruitment of striped bass Morone saxatilis in the Santee-Cooper system. South Carolina, comes from river-spawn egg cohorts transported at the right time to high-quality nursery habitat, generally located in or near Lake Marion, a large reservoir within the system. Because striped bass produce a superabundance of eggs, only a small portion of the total egg production must develop in favorable nursery habitat to produce good recruitment in any year. In a 3-year study, we assessed temporal variability in egg mortality, compared the survival of progeny cohorts, and monitored abundance of juveniles and zooplankton in nursery areas. Growth rates and hatch dates of juveniles were estimated from otoiiths. Mortality rates and hatching locations varied among egg cohorts. In the best recruitment years, 1988 and 1990, highest survival was associated with eggs hatched during the early half of the spawning season in Lake Marion. Zooplankton densities were higher in Lake Marion than in the spawning tributaries, suggesting that the lake was a superior nursery habitat. Growth rate of juveniles was highest in 1990. Water management at upstream dams in the Santee-Cooper system might increase recruitment by optimizing temperature and flow so that the maximum possible number of eggs hatch in upper Lake Marion.

Dynamics of white perch Morone americana population contingents in the Patuxent River estuary, Maryland, USA

“…Because of protracted spawning, growth in early life (and associated energy gain) might be substantially affected by temperature or other dynamic environmental conditions, and it would be desirable to determine hatch dates of juveniles from different habitats to gain more insight about flexible movement behaviors in white perch. Errors in counting daily increments increase with age, and beyond 65 d accuracy becomes questionable in congeneric and sympatric striped bass (Bulak et al 1997). We did not attempt to estimate hatch dates because our samples were at least 100 d old.…”

Reconciling nuclear microsatellite and mitochondrial marker estimates of population structure: breeding population structure of Chesapeake Bay striped bass (Morone saxatilis)

“…Mid-Atlantic populations between North Carolina and Maine are anadromous and migratory, while smaller, often disjunct populations found south of Cape Hatteras (eg Bulak et al, 1997), along the eastern Gulf of Mexico (eg Wirgin et al, 1991) and between the southern tip of Nova Scotia and the St Lawrence River (Rulifson and Dadswell, 1995) are thought to be largely estuarine to riverine. Mid-Atlantic stock striped bass are recruited from breeding populations in multiple tributaries of Chesapeake Bay, the Delaware River and the Hudson River and are the basis of a large commercial and recreational fishery.…”

Latent effects of early life history on partial migration for an estuarine-dependent fish

“…Age was estimated from a subsample of fish from each contingent (migratory: n=33, resident: n= 41); migratory fish were drawn from collections at RK 16, 33, and 45 and resident fish were drawn from collections at RK 48 and 72, based on the abundance of samples from these sites. Fish were chosen from earlier sampling dates (June and July) because age determination of older juveniles may be biased, as shown for the congeneric striped bass (Bulak et al 1997). Sagittal otoliths from juvenile white perch were embedded in Stuers epoxy and transversely sectioned using a low speed saw equipped with diamond blades separated by a spacer (0.3 mm).…”