High Concentrations of Total Dissolved Solids Block Spawning Migration of Striped Bass, Roccus saxatilis, in the San Joaquin River, California

1 October 1967

journal article
research article
Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Transactions of the American Fisheries Society

Vol. 96 (4) , 405-407
https://doi.org/10.1577/1548-8659(1967)96[405:hcotds]2.0.co;2

Abstract

Striped bass, Roccus saxatilis, are blocked during their spawning migration by high concentrations of total dissolved solids in the San Joaquin River in central California. Due to hydrological conditions in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, striped bass moving upstream to spawn and having made the normal adjustment to fresh water must readjust to saline water if they continue up the San Joaquin River. Catches of striped bass made with drifting gill nets demonstrate that 350 ppm is the critical concentration of total dissolved solids which blocks migration.