Red Drum Fish

The red drum goes by many names, including channel bass, spottail bass, redfish, puppy drum, and just red. They are game fish primarily found in certain parts of the Gulf of Mexico, from Florida to northern Mexico, and the Atlantic Ocean. These fish are close relatives of the black drum, and the two species have been known to crossbreed, resulting in a robust hybrid. Their most distinguishing feature is their dark red backs that fade into white on their bellies. In addition, they have streamlined bodies and a prominent black spot or eye spot on the base of their tail.

The red drum derived its name from its reddish-bronze coloring, but it comes in other colors, varying from copper, silvery-gray, and deep black.

Red drum are known for their rapid growth, especially during their first few years of life. They generally occupy shallow waters with plenty of vegetation, like seagrass. Furthermore, you can often find them in oyster reefs. They can tolerate low salinity and are often found in estuaries and river mouths, but they are primarily a saltwater and brackish water species. Red drums reproduce by spawning. This is when the female releases her eggs into the water, and the males swim above them, depositing their sperm over the eggs.

Three Amazing Red Drum Facts

• Male red drums have specific muscles on their body walls that they use to drum their swimbladders, making a croaking noise.
• These fish generally grow 20 to 30 inches long but can occasionally reach lengths of up to five feet and weigh as much as 94 pounds, though such sizes are rare.
• Red drums are closely related to the black drum, and the two species have crossed-bred in the past, resulting in a robust hybrid.

Classification and Scientific Name

The red drum’s scientific name is Sciaenops ocellatus, and they belong to the order Perciformes, which includes many species of ray-finned fishes.

Red drums are members of the Sciaenidae family, made up of croakers and drums named after the sounds they make.

Interestingly, males have specific muscles on their body walls that they use to drum their swimbladders. Red drum females also have sonic musculature; however, researchers are unsure how they use these noises to communicate.

Appearance

The red drum has a silver base and is covered with a red tinge, while its belly is silvery-gray. In addition, they have irregular patterns on their bodies due to their scales having darker centers. The unique dark spot found at the bottom of their tails is not there to be aesthetically pleasing; it serves a purpose. This spot is supposed to mimic the eye, so predators attack the wrong end of the fish, giving them extra time to escape. These fish generally grow 20 to 30 inches long but can reach lengths of five feet, and they weigh up to 90 pounds.

Behavior

The red drum primarily lives in large groups, which helps keep them safe from predators by significantly reducing the chance of being caught. However, researchers know very little about how they communicate. But, they do know that red drums make a croaking noise during spawning season, used to attract a member of the opposite sex. They can also make these sounds when under attack. For example, they are known to croak loudly when an angler pulls them out of the water. Males can also produce a knocking sound from muscles hitting against their swimbladder.

Habitat

You can find red drums along the eastern and southern Atlantic. But, they also occur in the Gulf of Mexico coastal regions of Alabama, the Carolinas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia. However, there were a few sightings of red drums in the Mediterranean Sea off Sicily and Israel, but they do not naturally occur there, so theories suggest they escaped from fish farms.

Red drums are a nearshore species that adapt to a wide range of habitats, such as:

• River mouths
• Estuaries
• Sandy bottoms
• Bays
• Mud flats
• Oyster bottoms
• Seagrass beds
• Continental shelves
• Surf zones

Juveniles primarily occur in shallow coastal waters, river mouths, and estuaries until they reach the age of 3 or 4. Once they reach this stage, they migrate to open coastal waters, leaving the protection of the estuary.

Red drums typically form groups, but some have displayed solitary behavior. Furthermore, these fish have been known to school with tarpon, black drum, and other species.

Diet

What Does the Red Drum Eat?

The red drum’s diet will vary depending on its habitat. However, the juvenile’s diet only consists of shrimp. But, as they get older and grow to around 5.9 to 7.9 inches, their diet starts to change and mainly consists of small fish, crustaceans, and fiddler crabs.

Predators and Threats

The red drum is listed as Least Concern on IUCN’s Redlist, and its population is stable, but its numbers are threatened by pollution, climate change, and overfishing.

What Eats the Red Drum?

Animals that prey on red drums include large fish and birds like the osprey. However, they are primarily hunted by humans.

Reproduction, Babies, and Lifespan

Like many members of its family, the red drum spawns in areas with a strong tidal flow and high salinity. For example, they prefer areas near barrier island passes. Their spawning season takes place from August to October and generally lasts for 8 to 9 weeks.

When their breeding season begins, males will swarm prime spawning areas in large numbers, and their stamina allows them to spawn every night. Most activity occurs at night, where they form large schools called drumming aggregations due to the noise males make by drumming their swimbladders. This noise helps to attract females and is a way of showing off. However, females only appear in these spawning spots when they are ready to spawn, once every two to seven days. Therefore, recreational fishermen catch a large majority of male red drums during this period, as they are out every night.

The number of eggs a female red drum can spawn in a season is spectacular. While they only spawn for a two-month period, which is less than half of other species like the spotted seatrout, females can produce up to 1.5 million eggs in a single spawning event, and over the course of a season, a large female may produce several million eggs.

The age of reproductive maturity varies. In general, most red drums leave coastal waters to spawn at the age of 5. However, offshore schools have contained immature fish aged 2 to 5. In addition, a small percentage of females mature when they reach 9 pounds at the age of 3, and some males mature when they reach 5 pounds at the age of 2. But all males are sexually mature by 5, and all females are ready to spawn when they are 6 years old. Once they have reached adulthood, they will breed for the rest of their lives.

Lifespan/Longevity

Red drums have long lifespans as they can exceed 40 years of age.

Population

Unfortunately, there is no record of the red drum’s population size. However, due to the high amount of offspring they produce each year and the lack of threats, their population is stable, and the IUCN lists them as of Least Concern.

Similar Tasting Species

Red drum is a very popular fish because their flesh has a firm but flaky white texture and tastes mildly sweet. But this fish is not always available, so suitable replacements include:

Cod

The codfish’s scientific name is Gadus morhua. However, cod is a general term to describe several species from the demersal fish genus. The Atlantic Pollock is considered one of the best-tasting cods because of its oily texture and strong taste.

These fish are found in cold and deep water regions of the North Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. But the cod’s largest population occurs in the Northeast Atlantic, and they are known as Arctic cod and inhabit the Barents Sea. Their spawning season starts in March and extends to April. But, unlike the red drum, cod is overfished and harvested before reaching reproductive maturity, causing a decline in population numbers. Therefore, several countries have restrictions in place to prevent overfishing,

Haddock

The haddock’s scientific name is Melanogrammus aeglefinus, and they belong to a group of ray-finned fish occurring in marine waters. These fish belong to the family Gadidae and inhabit regions across the North and East Atlantic. Haddock plays a large part in essential fisheries and is a main attraction in commercial and recreational fishing.

These fish are a saltwater demersal species, better known as groundfish, and inhabit the depths of the ocean bottoms between 133 and 1,500 feet below the surface.

Haddock and cod are very similar but are distinguished by the haddock’s lateral line, which is darker, and their dark gray bodies. Cods have greenish-brown bodies and a lighter lateral line. In addition, the haddock is smaller and slimmer than the cod, and they have a prominent dark blotch above their pectoral fin.

Haddock is a favorite amongst people who enjoy a flavorful taste, and you might be pleasantly surprised to know that it has more nutritional value than cod. Commercial fisheries fish for haddock all year round, and they are sold smoked, frozen, or dried.

Lake Whitefish

Lake whitefish’s scientific name is Coregonus clupeaformis, and they make up the largest percentage of whitefish populations in the Great Lakes. In addition, they are the largest species in their family. These fish are native to freshwater lakes but originated in the Great Lakes of Canada and North America.

The lake whitefish is a significant part of commercial fisheries and is a deep-bodied fish. They prefer to inhabit cold, shallow waters, deep waters, inland lakes, and sea beds. In addition, they have silver coloration, but their scales range in color from light brown to olive green. These fish like to prey on snails, shrimps, small clams, and midge larvae.