Study sampling of 3,000 fish taken during the mid-seventies revealed few fish over six years old and a rare maximum of nine years. Variances are due to local availability of food and water temperatures. The species is unique in that it is protogynous hermaphroditic. Each fish changes sex from female to male with 9.4 inches being the most commonly recorded transition period, which occurs at approximately three years. Sea Bass spawn over the Continental Shelf at depths of 59-148 feet and move progressively shoreward, seeking shelter and food in estuaries and bays.
Limited migrations occur inshore and northward in the spring and southward and offshore in the fall.
Fishing for the species, both recreationally and commercially is relentless. There are no closed seasons and no limits. The fish is caught by trawling, as by-catch in the summer flounder fishery, on rod and reel recreationally, in fish pots and by commercial hook and line fishermen. Sea Bass, along with spot croaker and weakfish, are the mainstay of the recreational party and charter boat fleet. Their proclivity for structure and the relative absence of it in coastal mid-Atlantic waters makes them an easy target.