Striped bass were successfully ovulated in Albemarle Sound, North Carolina some 150 miles from their natural spawning grounds and about one month before their normal spawning time. Brood fish were purchased from commercial fishermen, consequently the eggs so obtained were salvaged out of a sacrificial situation. The fish were collected from pound nets following narcosis by electric shock; the narcosis being maintained by the addition of Quinaldine to the water in the boat holding tank until the female fish had been injected with human chorionic gonadotropin at the egg taking station. During egg maturation, the female striped bass were held individually in glass-fronted aquaria. Whenever a fish was transferred from one aquarium to another, or whenever egg samples needed to be taken, the fish normally were tranquilized by the addition of Quinaldine to the aquarium water before the fish were handled. A myriad of problems were encountered during this experimental operation but, as a whole, it was successful. Of 243 striped bass brought to the egg taking station, 125 survived to ovulation and produced some 28,530,000 eggs. Two hybridization experiments were successful: One male white perch x female striped bass cross produced 80,000 fry, and one male white bass x female striped bass cross produced 200,000 fry.
