Description: The body of the striped bass is elongate and slightly compressed. The head is a narrow, cone-shape, and the mouth is large. The color is greenish above, silvery on the sides, and white below. There are six to nine horizontal blackish stripes on the side. In southern California, the much smaller salema occasionally is mistaken for young striped bass; the salema, however, has orange-brown stripes and larger eyes than those of striped bass.