Striped bass, often called “stripers,” are popular game fish found in both fresh and saltwater environments along the Atlantic coast. Understanding their diet is key to appreciating their role in aquatic ecosystems. These fish are adaptable, with feeding habits shifting based on their growth, location, and time of year.
Main Food Sources
Striped bass consume a wide array of prey, with fish generally making up the largest portion of their diet. Prominent baitfish include Atlantic menhaden, a major food source for adult stripers. Other frequently consumed fish are various herring species like alewives and blueback herring, bay anchovies, and Atlantic silversides. Sand eels, American eels, smelt, and even juvenile weakfish, spot, and Atlantic croaker also contribute to their diet.
Beyond fish, striped bass also prey on a variety of invertebrates. Crustaceans like blue crabs, green crabs, lady crabs, and rock crabs are regular dietary components, along with shrimp like grass shrimp, sand shrimp, and mysid shrimp. Lobsters can also be consumed. Cephalopods like squid become important prey when abundant, especially in coastal waters.
Dietary Shifts
A striped bass’s diet changes significantly as it grows and moves between different habitats. Young-of-the-year and yearling bass initially feed on microscopic organisms like zooplankton. As they mature, their diet transitions to small invertebrates such as amphipods, isopods, and marine worms before they begin consuming small fish.
The environment also dictates available prey. In freshwater rivers and upper estuaries, striped bass might eat species like gizzard shad, white perch, spottail shiners, killifish, and Atlantic tomcod. When in saltwater or coastal areas, their diet consists primarily of marine baitfish, crustaceans, and squid. This flexibility allows them to exploit abundant food sources across their varied range.
Hunting Strategies
Striped bass are opportunistic predators. They often employ ambush tactics, using structures such as rocks, reefs, and wrecks to surprise unsuspecting prey. Their powerful mouths are well-suited for engulfing their catches.
These fish also exhibit schooling behavior, particularly when targeting large aggregations of baitfish. They can work together to corral schools of prey, driving them towards the surface or into confined areas, making them easier to capture. Striped bass rely on their acute senses, including a keen sense of smell and a lateral line system, to locate prey even in murky conditions.
Seasonal Diet Changes
The seasonal availability of prey heavily influences the diet of striped bass throughout the year. Spring often sees stripers feeding on anadromous fish like river herring as these species migrate upstream to spawn. As water temperatures rise into summer and fall, their diet frequently shifts to larger, oilier baitfish such as menhaden and sand eels, which are abundant in coastal waters.
Colder water temperatures in winter lead to a slower metabolism in striped bass, resulting in less frequent feeding. During these periods, they may consume less active prey like spot or croaker, or rely on stored energy reserves. Ultimately, their annual movements and metabolic needs drive their adaptations to the most accessible food sources available across the seasons.