Reef & bottom · Saltwater
Black sea bass
Centropristis striata
Atlantic native, Gulf of Maine to the Florida Keys. NOAA Fisheries, MAFMC, ASMFC and SAFMC manage it as two stocks split at Cape Hatteras, North Carolina: a Mid-Atlantic stock (MAFMC/ASMFC/NOAA) and a South Atlantic stock (SAFMC/NOAA).
Also called blackfish, sea bass, black bass.
- Inshore
- Nearshore
- Regulated context
- 4 of 4 overlays reviewed
- Reviewed 2026-08-27
Before you target this fish
Regulated context — check the rules for the exact water
Where this applies U.S. Atlantic coast, Gulf of Maine to the Florida Keys; Mid-Atlantic stock (north of Cape Hatteras, NC - MAFMC/ASMFC/NOAA) and South Atlantic stock (south of Cape Hatteras - SAFMC/NOAA) are managed and regulated separately.
The reviewed context, unedited
Federally managed on both stocks with minimum size, bag limit, and season rules that differ by state and by side of Cape Hatteras; South Atlantic federal waters also carry a standing descending-device requirement for the snapper-grouper complex that black sea bass falls under. Rules change between review cycles - verify current size, bag, and season limits for the specific state and stock before fishing.
Rules for this fish change at a state line and sometimes inside one. Check the ones that apply to the exact water you are standing on before you act on anything here — this record is biology, not permission.
Take this somewhere
This page is the record. The reading is what happens when you add water, a season and a temperature to it — that is where the families below get ranked against each other instead of just listed.
Those three links carry the fish and nothing else. No conditions were declared on this page, so none travel, and the link says so rather than sending an empty reading.
The half nobody publishes
What this record does not know
Everything else on this page comes from a named agency or peer-reviewed source. This is the other side of that: the questions a reviewer went looking for an answer to and came back without, and the fields the record leaves empty because filling them would mean guessing.
It is here rather than at the bottom because a page that only shows what it knows is easy to read as a page that knows everything. For Black sea bass there are 13 of them.
Named by a reviewer
10Somebody looked for this and wrote down that they did not find it.
- Behaviour
No source gave a clear day-vs-night feeding claim strong enough to classify diel tendency beyond 'mixed'.
Cold-front, water-clarity, and angling-pressure response were not addressed in any agency or peer-reviewed source found and are omitted rather than inferred.
Exact migration trigger temperature disagrees slightly between sources (approx. 7°C in one, 10-12°C in another) and is reported as a range rather than resolved to one figure.
- Identification
No agency or peer-reviewed source was found contrasting black sea bass against similar-looking Centropristis or serranid species (e.g. bank sea bass); similarSpecies left empty rather than guessed.
Longevity figures disagree between NOAA Fisheries (8/12 yr by sex) and ASMFC (~20 yr max) - recorded rather than resolved.
No single continent-wide average adult length figure was found; only maximum-size figures are well sourced.
- Forage
No season-by-season diet breakdown (winter vs. summer emphasis) was found in an agency or peer-reviewed source specific to this species; seasonalDiet omitted rather than inferred from the general forage list.
No young-of-year-specific diet distinct from 'juvenile' was found.
- Season
South Atlantic stock's seasonal offshore/inshore movement is reported as smaller in magnitude than the Mid-Atlantic stock's, but no source gave depth or timing specifics for that stock alone.
Nobody has sourced:
- late_spring/late_summer/early_fall-scale detail inside each broad season is waterbody- and stock-specific and was not found at that resolution.
Absent from the record
3No reviewer wrote a gap here. The field is simply empty, which is its own answer.
- Water temperature
No agency or peer-reviewed temperature band for Black sea bass was found that a review would accept. The reading runs without one rather than borrowing a number from a related fish.
- Identification
No reviewed image. A photograph is only in this catalog when an agency or a named creator labelled the subject, and nobody has cleared one for this species yet.
- Population context
No regional population profile is registered. The species-level reading stands on its own; it does not silently become a local one.
Where the record puts it
Water and range
Inshore
3 reviewed holding classes- Oyster bar
- Bridge piling
- Channel edge
Nearshore
4 reviewed holding classes- Nearshore reef
- Wreck
- Rock pile
- Artificial reef
DepthStrongly seasonal by bottom temperature. Warm-season fish (roughly spring through fall) hold shallow nearshore structure, commonly under 120 ft in the Mid-Atlantic stock. As bottom water cools in fall, fish move to deeper outer-shelf wintering grounds - 240-540 ft reported for the Mid-Atlantic stock - returning to nearshore depths in spring as temperatures rise.
Moving waterSources describe black sea bass as structure-holders that shelter in or near hard bottom by day and range onto adjacent soft bottom to feed, rather than a tide-line or current-seam specialist. No agency source ties feeding directly to a tide stage for this species.
LightSources describe daytime shelter in or around structure with foraging extending onto adjacent open/soft bottom, consistent with a species that uses cover more in bright light and ranges to feed as light drops; no source gives a night-specific behavioral claim strong enough to call nocturnal.
Thermal band
Temperature
No reviewed temperature band
Nobody publishes a preferred or active temperature range for Black sea bass that a review would accept. Borrowing one from a related fish would look like knowledge and behave like a guess, so the reading runs without it and says which parts of the answer that weakens.
How it uses water
Behaviour
Fish concentrate on productive hard bottom and structure, which reads as loose aggregation rather than either strict schooling or solitary behavior.
Opportunistic, visually-oriented predator that takes crabs, shrimp, worms, small fish, and clams as available from structure and adjacent soft bottom.
Sources describe daytime association with structure and foraging that extends onto surrounding open/soft bottom; no agency or peer-reviewed source made a strong nocturnal-vs-diurnal claim for this species, so it is recorded as mixed rather than assigned confidently.
Seasonal activityActivity tracks the seasonal inshore/offshore migration below. Fish are most catchable on shallow nearshore structure during the warm season; cold-season fish are offshore and deep.
Temperature-driven behaviourMigration is temperature-triggered: fish move off the nearshore shelf as bottom temperatures decline in fall (roughly the 10-12°C / low-40s-to-50s°F range in one source, or a 7°C threshold in another) and return inshore as temperatures climb in spring. Near 6°C (about 43°F), sources describe adults becoming inactive and sheltering in holes and crevices rather than actively feeding.
Depth movementOntogenetic and seasonal: young-of-year settle in shallow nearshore/estuarine habitat; older juveniles and adults occupy progressively deeper water offshore in winter (240-540 ft reported for the Mid-Atlantic stock) and shallower nearshore structure (commonly under 120 ft) in the warm season.
CoverIrregular hard bottom, reefs, wrecks, rock piles, jetties, pilings, and oyster bottom are the consistently cited holding structures across sources.
Predator avoidanceUses hard structure - reefs, wrecks, rock, oyster bottom - as primary cover; no source describes an additional predator-avoidance behavior beyond structure use.
TerritoryDominant males defend a home range and a group of females rather than holding a fixed ambush point the way a solitary predator does; reported male home ranges are on the order of a fraction of a square kilometer to several square kilometers.
Spawning (conservation context)Protogynous hermaphrodite: most individuals begin life as females, and a portion transition to male as they grow, generally between about 2 and 5 years of age - a size/age-driven process, not a seasonal event in itself. Reported spawning windows differ by stock and source (South Atlantic stock February-May per SAFMC; Mid-Atlantic stock May-July extending into fall per ASMFC, or June-October per NOAA Fisheries), with spawning habitat generally described only in general terms as inner continental shelf depths. This is biological and conservation context only; it does not describe a place or a time to fish.
Where the general rule stops
- Protogynous sex change and size-structured populations are biology and management context, not evidence of a spawning concentration to run to. This reading never names or implies a spawning aggregation site or a structure class built around one.
What it can eat
Forage
- Crustaceans
- Small forage fish
- Mollusks
- Worms / annelids
Generalist bottom-and-structure feeder. Sources consistently list crabs, shrimp, small fish, worms (polychaetes), and clams/mussels/razor clams; one peer-reviewed diet study found arthropods (crabs and other decapods) as the largest single prey category. Diet capacity is not evidence of a current feeding event.
- Feeding style
- Opportunistic
- Feeding zone
- Benthic
By life stage
- Juvenile
- Smaller fish (under about 20 cm per the cited diet study) feed almost exclusively on crustaceans - amphipods, sand shrimp, and small rock crabs.
- Adult
- Larger fish add more fish prey (e.g. sand lance) to a diet still dominated by crabs and other decapod crustaceans, plus worms and mollusks.
Ontogenetic shiftDiet shifts from an almost purely crustacean diet in smaller/younger fish toward a mixed crustacean-and-fish diet as fish grow larger and gape increases.
Diet capacity (what the species is documented to eat) is not proof that a feeding event is happening now. Observed current forage still comes from a user observation or Hatch Match, never from this record alone.
Through the year
Season
Winter
- Where they sit
- Deep outer continental shelf, well offshore of the nearshore reefs and wrecks used the rest of the year.
- Depth
- Reported as deep as 240-540 ft for the Mid-Atlantic stock in winter.
- Temperature
- Fish move here as bottom temperatures fall; near 6°C (about 43°F) sources describe adults becoming inactive and sheltering rather than feeding.
What would count against it
- treating shallow nearshore wrecks as productive winter water for this species in the Mid-Atlantic stock
Spring
- Where they sit
- Return migration onto nearshore hard structure - reefs, wrecks, rock, jetties, pilings, oyster bottom - as bottom water warms.
- Movement
- Spring return migration is described as faster and more directed than the fall offshore movement.
What that changesBottom contact and drop presentations over reviewed nearshore structure classes as fish reoccupy shallow reefs and wrecks.
What would count against it
- reading spawning-season timing as a bite window
South Atlantic stock spawning window (February-May, per SAFMC) overlaps this season. Included as biology only - not a location or timing target.
Summer
- Where they sit
- Shallow nearshore structure, commonly under 120 ft in the Mid-Atlantic stock.
- Depth
- Shallowest seasonal depths of the year.
What that changesBottom contact, drop presentation, and structure-vertical over nearshore reef, wreck, and rock-pile classes.
What would count against it
- assuming a spawning-season closure applies without checking the current state/stock rule
Mid-Atlantic stock spawning window (May-October depending on source) overlaps this season. Included as biology only.
Fall
- Where they sit
- Fish begin leaving shallow nearshore structure for the outer shelf as bottom temperatures decline.
- Movement
- Offshore migration begins as bottom temperature approaches roughly 10-12°C (about 50-54°F) in one source, or a 7°C threshold in another.
What would count against it
- treating fall as a fixed calendar date rather than a temperature-triggered movement
Spawning · Winter, Spring, Summer
Protogynous hermaphrodite: most fish start as females and some transition to male with size/age (commonly 2-5 years), a size-structure fact, not a seasonal one. Reported spawning window differs by stock and source: South Atlantic stock February-May (SAFMC); Mid-Atlantic stock reported as June-October (NOAA Fisheries) or May-July extending into fall (ASMFC). Included as biological and conservation context only - not a timing or location cue, and not a structure class to fish.
Recorded as conservation context. No spawning site, staging concentration or migration bottleneck is named anywhere in this catalog, because naming one is how a population gets fished out.
Telling it apart
Identification
What to look at
- Caudal fin has three lobes formed by long, pointed upper, middle, and lower rays - a trilobed tail rather than a simple fork or square edge.
- Dorsal fin has 10 spines (front spines longest) and 11 soft rays, with membranes between the spines deeply notched.
- Gill cover bears three flat spines.
- Anal fin has 3 spines and 7 soft rays.
- Pale blue-to-white spot in the center of each scale forms faint longitudinal stripe rows along the sides.
- White spots and bands mark the dorsal fin.
- Average adult length
- Commonly encountered fish run smaller than the species maximum; typical length in most sources is well under 20 in.
- Common angling size
- Legal-size fish are commonly in the 12-16 in range where minimum sizes require roughly 11-13 in, varying by state and stock.
- Typical weight
- Most landed fish are well under the documented maximum of about 6 lb.
- Maximum documented
- Up to about 24 in and 6 lb per ASMFC life-history summary; NOAA Fisheries cites growth to about 2 ft and 9 lb.
- Longevity
- Females to about 8 years, males to about 12 years (NOAA Fisheries); ASMFC gives a species maximum near 20 years with fish over 9 years uncommon. Sources do not fully agree on the upper bound.
What follows from all of that
Presentation families
Inshore
Structure pitch
Put a bait tight against hard structure and get it out again before the tide sweeps it into the barnacles.
- accurate short casts
- immediate contact
- lead them out
- expect abrasion
What it asks of the tackle
- Depth control
- Moderate
- Sensitivity
- High
- Casting distance
- Short
- Weight range
- 1/8–3/4 oz
- Cover resistance
- High
- Line visibility
- Secondary
- Retie frequency
- Very high
Live / natural bait suspension
Present a natural food form with enough life or scent to hold in a station without looking mechanical.
- keep it alive or fresh
- match the holding depth
- minimize hardware bulk
- detect without pulling it away
What it asks of the tackle
- Depth control
- High
- Sensitivity
- High
- Casting distance
- Short to moderate
- Weight range
- As light as conditions allow
- Cover resistance
- Moderate
- Line visibility
- Low
- Retie frequency
- High
Nearshore
Bottom contact
Keep a bait on or just above the substrate along a break, flat, or inside a weed edge.
- feel bottom
- drag or hop
- pause on the break
- stay in contact
What it asks of the tackle
- Depth control
- High
- Sensitivity
- High
- Casting distance
- Moderate
- Weight range
- 1/8–1/2 oz
- Cover resistance
- High
- Line visibility
- Low
- Retie frequency
- High
Drop presentation
Let a bait fall on a controlled line into cover, along a wall, or through a hole in vegetation.
- place then fall
- watch the line
- hold at depth
- short hop only after the fall
What it asks of the tackle
- Depth control
- High
- Sensitivity
- High
- Casting distance
- Short
- Weight range
- 1/16–3/8 oz
- Cover resistance
- High
- Line visibility
- Low
- Retie frequency
- High
Structure vertical
Hold a presentation in the water column directly over hard structure and stay there as the boat moves.
- stay vertical
- hold the depth band
- short lifts
- reset when the line angles
What it asks of the tackle
- Depth control
- High
- Sensitivity
- High
- Casting distance
- None
- Weight range
- 2–16 oz
- Cover resistance
- High
- Line visibility
- Secondary
- Retie frequency
- High
Vertical jig
Work a compact bait up and down through a marked depth, basin, or timber pocket.
- stay over the target
- measured lift
- controlled drop
- watch slack
What it asks of the tackle
- Depth control
- High
- Sensitivity
- High
- Casting distance
- Vertical
- Weight range
- 1/8–3/4 oz
- Cover resistance
- Moderate
- Line visibility
- Low
- Retie frequency
- Moderate
Live / natural bait suspension
Present a natural food form with enough life or scent to hold in a station without looking mechanical.
- keep it alive or fresh
- match the holding depth
- minimize hardware bulk
- detect without pulling it away
What it asks of the tackle
- Depth control
- High
- Sensitivity
- High
- Casting distance
- Short to moderate
- Weight range
- As light as conditions allow
- Cover resistance
- Moderate
- Line visibility
- Low
- Retie frequency
- High
What moves them for this fish
Reviewed rules that push particular families up when the conditions match. Each one names the conditions it needs and why it exists, so you can disagree with it.
Near the cold end of this species' range, sourced material describes fish becoming inactive and sheltering in holes and crevices rather than ranging to feed, so presentations that hold tight in the water column right over structure outrank ones that search adjacent open bottom.
When
Nearshore · cold refuge
Moves up
Structure vertical, Drop presentation, Bottom contact
Reviewed 2026-08-30
In bright light this species shelters in and around hard structure, so a presentation held directly over or dropped into structure fits better than one worked across open bottom.
When
Nearshore · Bright
Moves up
Structure vertical, Drop presentation
Reviewed 2026-08-30
As light drops, black sea bass extend their foraging onto the adjacent open/soft bottom rather than staying tucked to structure, favoring presentations that cover or hold over that adjacent bottom.
When
Nearshore · Low light
Moves up
Bottom contact, Live / natural bait suspension
Reviewed 2026-08-30
The same bright-light structure-holding pattern applies inshore: a bait pitched tight to oyster bar, piling, or channel-edge structure fits better than one left to sit off the structure.
When
Inshore · Bright
Moves up
Structure pitch
Reviewed 2026-08-30
As light drops and fish range off structure to feed on adjacent bottom, a held natural bait covering the water near (not only on) the structure fits the documented shift better than a tight structure pitch alone.
When
Inshore · Low light
Moves up
Live / natural bait suspension
Reviewed 2026-08-30
Where every sentence came from
Sources
Agency
NOAA Fisheries - Black Sea Bass species page
Used for habitat, thermal band and presentation families; identification; behaviour; forage; season. Read 2026-08-30, next check 2026-11-27.
Agency
ASMFC - Black Sea Bass species page and life history summary
Used for habitat, thermal band and presentation families; identification; behaviour; forage; season. Read 2026-08-30, next check 2026-11-27.
Agency
SAFMC - Sea Bass, Black species page
Used for habitat, thermal band and presentation families; identification; behaviour; season. Read 2026-08-30, next check 2026-11-27.
Agency
MAFMC/ASMFC Black Sea Bass essential-habitat / species profile source document
Used for habitat, thermal band and presentation families; behaviour; forage; season. Read 2026-08-30, next check 2026-11-27.
A source with no link predates the rule that one has to carry a URL. It is still a real citation and still checkable; it just takes a search rather than a click, and that is worth knowing before you rely on it.