O
ne o Florida’s most popularsport sh, red drum is alsoone o the state’s mostwidespread estuarine inhabitants.Red drum are prodigious spawnersthat may produce tens o millionso eggs each year. Their relative hardiness andprolic nature make them ideal or rearing inhatcheries. Stringent shing restrictions have beeninstrumental in restoring their populations.
Description
Also called redsh, channel bass, spottail, red bass,and simply “reds,” red drum are identied by thelarge spot on the tail. Their common name describesboth their color and the “drumming” sound theymake during spawning and when taken rom thewater. This drumming is produced by special musclesrubbing against the infated air bladder, like ngersrubbing a balloon.Red drum are reddish brown on the back, adingto white below. Juveniles have a copper or bronzetint. Most red drum have one distinctive black spot atthe base o the tail, but some have several spots, andothers have none. In 1997, shbiologists identied a red drumthat had hundreds o spots. Thebody is elongated and thick, witha gently arched back and slopinghead. The large scales on theupper body are rough, while those on the breast areaare smooth. Red drum have two dorsal ns; the rontn has sharp spines, and the back n has sot raysresembling a fat-top haircut. The adult’s tail is broadand either fat at the end or slightly concave. The longpectoral (side) ns are rust-colored.Red drum colors vary according to where the shlives. Those in the Gul o Mexico are a lighter redthan those that reside in muddy bays. Occupants owhite, sandy bottoms have light, muted colors. Whentaken rom the water, the sh may turn a darker red.Red drum in Florida may live 25 to 35 years.Atlantic-coast reds are generally larger than those onthe gul coast. Although the largest ever caughtweighed 94 pounds, the largest recorded in Floridawas 52 pounds 5 ounces and was taken in Cocoa in1996. The largest caught in Florida with fy-shingtackle was landed in 1995 in the Banana River andweighed 43 pounds.
RED DRUM
Marine Musicians
Scientific Name
Sciaenops ocellatus
Size
On average can grow to 40 inches, 40 pounds on the Gul o Mexico coast; 45inches, 52 pounds on the Atlantic coast
Range
From Massachusetts to Key West along the Atlantic coast and throughout the Gulo Mexico
Habitat
Juveniles live in seagrass meadows and over muddy and sand bottoms in inshoreestuaries. Adults normally live in open oceanic and gul waters.
Status
Only recreational harvest o red drum is permitted
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation CommissionFish and Wildlife Research Institute
Red drum art after Diane Rome Peebles painting.
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Range
Red drum occur in the Atlantic Ocean romMassachusetts to Key West and throughout the Gulo Mexico. They are rare in extreme southern Florida,along the Atlantic coast north o the Chesapeake Bay,and along the Mexican coast south o Vera Cruz.Most o their lie cycle is spent in nearshore waters,so their shery is managed mainly by states ratherthan ederal agencies.Red drum thrive in a wide range o salinities andtemperatures, an adaptation that suits their versatileliestyle. Juveniles can tolerate resh water, whereaslarger reds preer higher salinities. They arecomortable rom 50°F to about 81.5°F. Small reddrum can withstand a greater range, rom about 36°Fto 91°F. They are vulnerable to sudden drops intemperatures, however, and move into warmer, deeperwaters during cold spells.
Life History
Given their relatively long lives, red drum mature at ayoung age. Males can spawn at about two years oldand our pounds, whereas emales are sexuallymature at about our years old and 13 pounds. Theybegin spawning in all when waters cool and daylighthours decrease. Most spawn near passes and inlets,but reds in the Everglades area may travel oshore,and those in Brevard County’s Mosquito and northernIndian River lagoons spawn within the estuary.Spawning season in the Gul o Mexico runs romAugust to mid-November, peaking in September.Atlantic red drum may begin as early as July andcontinue through December, peaking in September orOctober. Spawning is oten triggered by new- or ull-moon phases.Red drum have an energetic and elaboratecourtship ritual. Beginning in late aternoon, malesollow emales or hours while drumming loudly andbutting them. Oten, several males pursue one emale.The males’ colors intensiy dramatically duringcourtship; their bellies turn stark white, and theirfanks and backs turn bronze. Just ater dark, theyshudder, and the emale releases a milky cloud oeggs and the male a cloud o sperm. Females mayshed 1 million eggs in a single spawn—enough to lla quart jar—and they may spawn every three to vedays. Over an entire spawning season, they mayproduce tens o millions o eggs, but very ew willsurvive to adulthood.The ertilized eggs, about 1 millimeter in diameter,are clear and contain oil globules that keep themafoat as they are carried shoreward by the tide. Theeggs hatch within 20 to 30 hours. Each larval sh hasan attached yolk that provides nutrients or its rstthree days. Ater the yolk is completely absorbed, thelarvae eed on tiny foating animals called planktonuntil they reach the estuarine nursery areas. An early,severe winter ollowing spawning can make the larvaesluggish and unable to capture plankton. The ragilelarvae are susceptible to changes in salinity and growbest in about 30 parts salt per 1,000 parts water.Ater this stage, lasting about 2½ weeks, gradualsalinity variations are not a serious problem.In the estuary, the juveniles settle along the edgeso seagrass beds and other dense, submergedvegetation where they are protected until they canswim and eed on the bottom. At about one inch long,the young sh begin to gather in schools. They growrapidly, and by one year old, they may be 13 to 14inches long. Red drum continue to grow throughouttheir lives, although ater they are about three eetlong, they gain more in girth than in length.Juveniles less than one year old move in and outo backwater channels and canals as they developand may remain in the estuary or up to our years.Adults move out o the estuaries and join largeaggregations o sexually mature sh. Although somespawn inshore, most spawn at nearshore entrancesto estuaries.In general, Florida red drum are not long-distancetravelers and tend to remain in the area in which theywere spawned. In tagging studies o immature red drumon Florida’s gul coast, 50% to 85% were recapturedwithin six miles o their original release site.
Generally, red drum spawn in fall when the water is cooler and thedays contain 10 hours of sunlight
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Although they sometimes eed at the surace or inmidwater, red drum are primarily bottom eeders.They are oten seen in shallows browsing head-downwith their tails out o the water—a behavior called“tailing.” Their ondness or tasty crabs and shrimpprobably contributes to their own delicate favor andtender white meat. Red drum locate ood by sight,touch, and vacuuming or biting the bottom.As red drum grow, their ood preerences change.Juveniles up to two years old select tiny crustaceanssuch as copepods and crabs, whereas older juvenilesavor crabs and sh. Red drum eed primarily in theearly morning and late aternoon and are voraciouseaters whose penchant or lunging at almost anynatural bait endears them to anglers.Mangroves and marsh grasses indirectly play acritical role in the diet o red drum in southwesternand southern Florida. Fish, crabs, and shrimp eed onmangrove leaves that all into the water and decay,and red drum east on the sh, crabs, and shrimp.Because estuaries are vital nursery grounds,deterioration o water quality or loss o suitablehabitat in these areas may limit the number o youngsh that become reproductive adults.
Economic Importance
Throughout history, people have caught red drum orood and recreation o the Atlantic seaboard romVirginia to Georgia. In Florida, red drum were caughtmainly or sustenance until the growth otransportation networks and markets allowed sh tobe shipped long distances. A commercial shery orred drum began in the 1850s, but since the early1980s, the majority o Florida’s red drum catch hasbeen taken by recreational anglers. For example, therecreational harvest in 1985 totaled 2.3 millionpounds, whereas the commercial harvest accountedor less than hal a million pounds.In the 1970s, Florida’s red drum populationsbegan to decline. Red drum apparently disappearedrom Biscayne Bay—possibly because o decliningwater quality, loss o habitat, and diversion oreshwater fows. The surging popularity o spicy,blackened redsh in the early 1980s caused similardeclines along the U.S. Gul o Mexico coast.
Management Efforts
Beginning in 1986, state and ederal governmentsbegan enacting regulations to protect red drum,reducing recreational catches and banning commercialharvests in Florida in 1989. Annual red drumlandings then declined rom 2.1 million in the mid-1980s to about 250,000 in 1993. Recreationalharvests are still allowed year-round, but there arebag and size limits. Since 1993, recreational harvestshave increased to about 600,000 sh in 2008 becausemore anglers have targeted this rapidly growing,easily accessible nearshore sh. The growingemphasis on catch-and-release shing may loweruture recreational landings. The red drum populationis currently meeting management goals becauseregulations were established when the shery wasdepleted. This Florida shery is considered a successand a positive outcome o sheries regulations.Since 1988, scientists with the Florida Fish andWildlie Conservation Commission’s (FWC) Fish andWildlie Research Institute have reared red drum inthe State hatchery at Port Manatee and released theminto the wild. Using 20- to 30-pound wild-caught reddrum as brood stock, scientists manipulate watertemperature and hours o daylight in order to stimulatethe sh to spawn on demand. The eggs, careullytended, hatch in about 24 hours. The larvae arereared to juveniles o various sizes and then releasedinto the wild, where their survival is evaluated.Scientists hope that this process can successullyrebuild native stocks. From 1988 through 2004, morethan 6 million juvenile red drum were released intoTampa Bay, Sarasota Bay, Biscayne Bay, Indian River,and estuaries in Collier and Volusia counties.Three sizes o hatchery-reared juveniles havebeen released: 1 to 2 inches long, 3 to 4 inches long,and 6 inches or longer. The smallest juveniles are
Because Florida’s east- and west-coast red drum differ genetically, researchersrelease hatchery-reared juveniles only into their respective populations.
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Sea Stats - Red Drum
One of Florida's most popular sport fish, red drum is also one of the state's most widespread estuarine inhabitants. Also called redfish, channel bass, spottail, and red bass, red drum are easily identified by the eyespot…
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