Performance of domesticated striped bass Morone saxatilis, palmetto bass and backcross hybrid striped bass (sunshine bass female x striped bass male)raised in a tank culture system

Grow-out performance of striped bass Morone saxatilis, palmetto bass (M. sa xatilis female x M. chrysops male) and backcross hybrids [sunshine bass fem ale (M. chrysops female x M. saxatilis male) x M. saxatilis male] was exami ned in a two-part study. During part 1. fish (mean weight = 20.1 g) were st ocked at a density of 56 fish/m(3) in 1.8-m(3) cylindrical fiberglass tanks connected to a central biological filter. Fish were fed a 38% protein trou t ration daily and the study duration was 273 d. At harvest, no differences (P > 0.05) in mean weight or feed conversion were detected among the fish types. However, there were differences in specific growth, with the striped bass having a significantly higher growth rate than the palmetto bass and the backcross hybrids being intermediate. The condition factor (K) for stri ped bass was also significantly lower (1.2) than that recorded for either o f the other two groups. In addition, survival of striped bass (91%) was sig nificantly higher than that of backcross hybrids (74%), while survival of p almetto bass (87%) was intermediate. The survival of backcross hybrids was adversely impacted by an infestation of the dinoflagellate Amyloodinium sp. During part IT stocking density in each tank was reduced to 19 fish/m(3). The study lasted 104 d. At harvest, no differences were detected in weight, survival, or feed conversion. However, there were significant differences in specific growth, length and K. Striped bass and backcross hybrids gained weight faster than palmetto bass. Length and K were inversely related with all groups being significantly different. Striped bass had the largest TL and the lowest K while, palmetto bass were the shortest with the highest K.