Dagon Aquaculture’s Hybrid Striped Bass Journey

At Dagon Aquaculture, innovation and specialization have always been at the heart of our mission. Since our founding in 1978, we’ve grown from a freshwater facility focused on tilapia and carp into a cutting-edge facility for advanced aquaculture solutions. One of our proudest achievements has been the development of a unique, year-round Hybrid Striped Bass (HSB) breeding program, a feat that positions Dagon as a leader in this niche and demanding sector.

A New Chapter: Enter the Hybrid Striped Bass

In 1989, Dagon’s journey took a pioneering turn when we launched our Hybrid Striped Bass program, marking our first marine finfish initiative. Unlike other aquaculture species, Hybrid Striped Bass (a cross between the Striped Bass Morone saxatilis and the White Bass Morone chrysops) cannot breed naturally. Fingerlings must be produced entirely through artificial spawning under controlled hatchery conditions, a process that demands both scientific precision and hands-on expertise. This challenge became our mission.

Successfully managing both wild striped and white bass broodstocks, we established a reliable, scalable production cycle.

Today, we are one of the few operations in the world with the technical capabilities and infrastructure to deliver Hybrid Striped Bass fingerlings year-round, with consistent quality and availability.

Why Hybrid Striped Bass?

HSB are a robust, fast-growing species ideal for cold-water aquaculture, making them well-suited to diverse grow-out systems, including recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) and aquaponics. Their performance metrics are impressive:

• Spawning season: Year-round

• Fingerling availability: 60–80 days from order

• Optimal water temperature: 16–26°C

• Salinity range: 0–15 ppt (excellent adaptability from freshwater to brackish water)

• Fingerling weight range: 0.2–0.8 g

• Feed conversion ratio (FCR): 0.8–1.4

These features make HSB not only a sustainable choice but also a commercially viable species for global markets.

Innovation Through Experience

Unlike traditional species, HSB larvae are delicate and require a carefully designed rearing process:

• Broodstock Management: Wild-caught parental species (striped and white bass) are conditioned under hatchery protocols.

• Controlled Spawning: Eggs are incubated in specialized systems until hatching.

• Enriched Larval Feeding: Newly hatched larvae are transitioned to enriched Artemia, promoting optimal growth and survival.

This refined protocol is a result of decades of trial, adaptation, and deep biological understanding — our commitment to mastering the complexities of this hybrid species.

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Expanding Markets and Future Vision

Today, Dagon Aquaculture proudly supplies Hybrid Striped Bass fingerlings not only to local Israeli farms but also to partners across Europe and the United States. In Israel, our HSB has earned a reputation as a top-shelf premium product, trusted by chefs, retailers, and aquaculture professionals alike.

We’ve aligned our production to meet growing market demands, expanding our export focus to include Seabream, Grey Mullet, and Barramundi. Yet, the HSB remains a cornerstone of our identity, a symbol of what’s possible when aquaculture meets innovation.

At Dagon Aquaculture, Hybrid Striped Bass is more than a species, it's a legacy of expertise, a model of sustainable production, and a vision for the future of aquaculture.

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