Data gathered at the Weldon Striped Bass Hatchery, Weldon, North Carolina, during the years 1960-1967 indicated that the optimum spawning temperature range for striped bass in the Roanoke River was between 62" F. and 67" F. The minimum recorded temperature at which spawning has occurred was 55" F. and the maximum was 71· F. Preliminary bioassays conducted at the hatchery during the 1967 spawning season substantiated this optimum temperature range, and further revealed that at temperatures of 74" F. to 80· F., the percent hatch dropped from 80 to 60 and the frequency of dead and malformed fry increased from 48 percent to 100 percent. At these higher temperatures, none of the fry, normal nor malformed, survived for more than 70 hours after hatching. Eggs incubated and hatched, and fry held, in water at 70" F., evidenced no mortality for 76 hours following hatch. The bioassays also revealed that at water temperature ranging from 60· F. to 85· F., the incubation time of striped bass eggs was reduced from 58 to 25 hours, respectively. Presented at the annual meeting of the Southern Division of the American Fisheries Society, New Orleans, Louisiana, September, 1967.
