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Do Hybrid Striped Bass Reproduce?

What do you get when you breed a striped bass with a white bass fish? A hybrid striped bass, which we also call Whiterock bass, wiper, palmetto bass, sunshine bass, or Cherokee bass. 

 

Hybrid striped bass that classifies as sunshine or Cherokee bass has a white bass mother and a striped bass father. Palmetto bass comes from a striped bass mother and a white bass father. 

 

The reproduction process occurs by using sperm from one bass species and fertilizing the other species’ eggs to produce a hybrid, or mixed-species, bass offspring.

 

The wiper history dates back to the 1970s when the first hybrids were introduced to Cherokee Lake, located in Tennessee, which influenced the name Cherokee bass.

 

Hybrid striped bass is the offspring of two different bass species. So it makes sense to wonder, do hybrid striped bass reproduce?

 

This species of fish is fertile, meaning they can reproduce. There are a few reservoirs with colonies of hybrid offspring that occurred naturally. Hybrids may also participate in spawn runs with striped or white bass. 

 

A female hybrid can produce up to 160,000 eggs for each pound of bodyweight a year. Females only spawn once per year, whereas males typically spawn multiple times.

 

Hybrid striped bass spawning season lasts four to five weeks and occurs in the spring, from mid-March until May. The exact timeframe will vary by location, but it generally starts once the water warms to between 55°F and 70°F and temperatures reach 65°F.

 

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