Striped Bass, otherwise known as stripers, linesiders, or rockfish, are some of the most popular creatures anglers seek out. They inhabit lakes, rivers, and many other bodies of saltwater throughout the United States.
If you’re looking to go fishing for these trophy fish, you might be wondering, “Do striped bass have teeth?”
Fish teeth are among the most common causes of injury in fishing, often slicing open the hand or finger of an unaware fisher. When handling any type of fish, you should know whether they have teeth and whether those teeth can hurt you.
Striped bass have tiny rows of small inward-facing teeth located in their lips. These types of teeth don’t kill or maim prey like a shark’s might. Their purpose is to grip their target bait for a short time, forcing the smaller fish into the back of their throat to digest them.
How Should I Handle a Bass Since They Have Teeth?
As we’ve mentioned, bass teeth can cause you minor injury if you’re not careful. To avoid the chances of that happening, you need to correctly handle a striped bass once you’ve taken them out of the water.
Striped bass are often larger than other freshwater bass species, but their teeth tend to be around the same size, but increase as the size of the fish gets bigger. As such, it’s pretty simple to lip a bass while avoiding its teeth. The problem is when they grow large and wriggle around in your hands the teeth are bigger and like rough sandpaper. It might be better to purchase a good pair of fish grippers to help you avoid injury.
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