Rockfish and Callaloo

There are at least a dozen different “rockfish,” a common name often given to any fish that lurks among rocks. The striped bass (Morone saxatilis), called rockfish on the Chesapeake, is also called Atlantic striped bass, linesider, striper, or just “rock.” It’s an anadromous fish, like salmon and shad, that lives in the open ocean but swims up into rivers to spawn. It is native to the eastern coast of North America but has been introduced into inland bodies of water throughout the US. There is another strain in the Gulf of Mexico. The rockfish is the state fish of Maryland, as well as South Carolina, where it’s called striped bass. It is the saltwater state fish of several other states of the eastern seaboard.