Abstract
Aquaculture performance of phase II and phase III sunshine bass (a female white bass Morone chrysops × male striped bass M. saxatilis), palmetto bass (a female striped bass × male white bass), and white bass were evaluated in separate 12-week yield trials conducted in indoor recirculating-water systems. Phase II sunshine bass, palmetto bass, and white bass had mean initial weights of 40.0 g, 39.7 g, and 41.0 g, respectively. A diet containing 40.2% crude protein (CP) was fed to fish twice daily at a rate of 3% body weight/d. At the end of the trial, sunshine bass and white bass had mean weights of 124.2 g and 126.0 g, respectively and were significantly larger than palmetto bass (93.5 g mean weight). Phase II sunshine bass and white bass outperformed palmetto bass by having higher relative growth (h), mean daily growth, and relative weight, as well as better feed conversion ratios (weight of food fed/weight gained). Survival was 100% for all three taxonomic groups. In the phase III study, mean initial weights for sunshine bass (177.5 g) and palmetto bass (185.9 g) were similar but significantly greater than the mean initial weight of white bass (153.8 g). In this trial, fish were fed a floating trout chow (44.1% CP) to satiation twice per day. At the termination of the study, sunshine bass (611.1 g) and palmetto bass (517.8 g) had significantly greater mean weights than white bass (254.4 g). Significant differences among all three taxonomic groups were found for h and for mean daily growth rate. Both crosses of hybrid striped bass had lower feed conversion ratios when compared with white bass. Relative weight values (ratio of a fish's weight to the weight of a standard fish of the same length) for sunshine bass were significantly greater than values for palmetto bass and white bass. Survival rates ranged from 98% to 100% for the three taxonomic groups. Differences were not detected between sunshine bass and palmetto bass for eviscerated percentage, headed and eviscerated percentage, or dressout percentage. Sunshine bass outperformed palmetto bass at phase II and phase III sizes under the conditions of this study.
Comments
© by the American Fisheries Society 2000
Published in North American Journal of Aquaculture, Vol. 62, Issue 2 (April 2000) at doi: 10.1577/1548-8454(2000)062<0114:APCOSB>2.0.CO;2