Striped Bass (3″ figure by Replica Toy Fish)

This post will look at another of the figures released in April of 2015, the striped bass Morone saxatillis. After the initial twelve figures, this is the only species released that would be best thought of as marine, or at least less ‘freshwater’ than any other figure in the series (although many are catadromous or anadromous, or may range back and forth). This is also the last RTF figure that managed to get a new version in the Toy Fish Factory sets as part of the American Angler set (the only TFF set not on the blog–yet! Soon though…)

The striped bass is a member of the family Moronidae, which is part of a larger clade that includes drums, croakers, and surgeonfish among many others. They are found along the Atlantic coast of North America from the St. Lawrence River south to the Gulf of Mexico, and are anadromous spawners. There was a population declared extirpated from the St. Lawrence river in 1996, but a a reintroduction program was later successful. Striped bass have also been introduced to many areas along the Pacific coast as well as inland areas areas for recreational angling; and of course to several other countries as well. These fish can be found in a variety of habitats, from coastal seas to brackish and freshwaters, including some landlocked populations. They are large predators, hunting smaller fish and invertebrates. Although they can reach 2 metres long (about 6 feet) they are found more commonly around around 120 cm (~4 feet long). The IUCN lists them as Least Concern, but intense fishing pressure has led many regional governments to manage and maintain the species as a game fish.

The figure is about 7.2 cm long (about 2.8 inches), giving a scale ranging from 1:28 for a huge specimen to maybe 1:14 to 1:17 for a more average sized one. The body is sculpted with single fins and pelvic fins fully extended out, and the pectoral fins pressed against the sides. The body is fairly ovoid, and laterally flat. The mouth is pointed, with a slight jutting of the lower jaw. In general, a pretty good depiction of a striped bass. The first dorsal fin bears a number of thick spiny rays, as expected, and the rest of the fins are marked with finer rays; the tail also has the softer rays. The tail is somewhat truncate or slightly emarginate, with only a slight extension of the tips of the two lobes; for striped bass the tail should be forked as distinct lobes. The opercula a clearly sculpted, and the body, from back to belly, is picked out in a uniform series of scales. The eyes are clearly defined, sloppily painted in back with gold highlight.

The paint job is both simple and yet shows attempts at complexity; in some ways this figure demonstrates the difficulty in actually describing RTF fish colouring, as they can be quite inconsistent (I’ll have an even more obvious example in a future post). The general base color is a white with a brownish wash on the sides. The back, from nose to upper rail lobe, and dorsal fins are a greyish blue. The rest of the fins are either white, or white with the brown wash; the pelvics have a bit of blue but only on one side…The body is then marked with 7 lateral stripes in black. These markings should extend from the opercula, straight back to where the meet the edge of the bod or tail, but some are only marked partially on the body interior. More noticeable is the the stripes are more heavily painted on one side of the body than the other; and this striping has been applied on the pelvic fins, which should be unmarked (the stripes originate under the fin, against the body, in the real fish). In general, the fish is pretty clearly representing a striped bass, and is good enough for it (eventually I’ll get the Toy Fish Factory one on here, we’ll see how it compares) but the paint is rushed.

I’m going to be honest, as one of the few ‘new’ fish species released after about 5 years or so, I think RTF could have brought out something more…engaging? As I’ve said, I don’t know what the motivation or release process was, but this seemed like a bit of a departure in some ways–striped bass are popular fish for anglers but as an individual species seems like it would have limited appeal (keeping in mind that all of these fish were only available as individual bulk toys) and it’s also one of the few, even from the list, that seemed more familiar as marine animals. Given the breadth of the planned models, and the range of fish morphologies those could have represented, there were likely many that might have gained more traction. The good news is that some of these species did come out in the April 2015 wave, and I’ll get to them soon!