Leiostomus xanthurus 

 Adult 



5 cm 



(from Goode 1884) 



Common Name: spot 



Scientific Name: Leiostomus xanthurus 



Other Common Names: Flat croaker, yellowtail; golden 



croaker during spawning season (Hoese and Moore 



1 977); goody, roach, and post croaker (Benson 1 982), 



spot croaker, tambour croca (French), and verrugata 



croca (Spanish) (Fischer 1978, NOAA 1985). 



Classification (Robins et al. 1991) 



Phylum: Chordata 



Class: Osteichthyes 



Order: Perciformes 



Family: Sciaenidae 



Value 



Commercial : Most of the commercial foodfish harvest 

 of spot comes from the Chesapeake Bay and south- 

 east U.S. Atlantic coast. Larger fish are marketed 

 mainly as fresh product, but due to the small size of this 

 species it is more frequently used by pet food proces- 

 sors. In the Gulf of Mexico, it contributes to the 

 commercial bottomfish industry of Louisiana and Mis- 

 sissippi which uses it for fish meal and oil as well as pet 

 food (Fischer 1978, Shipp 1986, Hales and Van Den 

 Avyle 1989). Approximately 1 to 2 mt are harvested 

 each year in the Gulf of Mexico, mostly for this purpose. 

 It is taken primarily by otter trawl, but also by gill nets, 

 haul seines, and pound nets (Mercer 1989). 



Recreational : This species is less likely than other 

 sciaenids to be taken by hook and line due to its dietary 

 habits; however, some recreational fishing for spot 

 does occur on the Atlantic coast (Hales and Van Den 

 Avyle 1 989). It readily takes the proper bait and can be 

 caught near bridges, piers, and wharves, and is also 

 caught frequently in the smaller trawls used by 

 sportnetters in lower bay and nearshore areas (Shipp 



1986, Hales and Van Den Avyle 1989). Fishery infor- 

 mation for the Gulf of Mexico (excluding Texas) showed 

 a total recreational catch of 825,000 spot in 1993 

 (O'Bannon 1994). 



Indicator of Environmental Stress : This species is a 

 bottom feeder which often accumulates contaminants 

 and is a target species for NOAA's National Status and 

 Trends Program and other environmental monitoring 

 studies (NOAA 1987a, NOAA 1987b, Killam et al. 

 1992). It is used for monitoring many pesticides, 

 herbicides, heavy metals, chlorinated hydrocarbons, 

 and chlorination byproducts (Hales and Van Den Avyle 

 1 989, Heitmuller and Clark 1 989, Mercer 1 989, Killam 

 et al. 1992). The spot can be a common inhabitant in 

 environmentally stressed estuaries due to its tolerance 

 of a wide range of environmental conditions (Killam et 

 al. 1992). 



Ecological : The spot is a dominant species in bottom 

 habitats of nearshore and inshore areas of the northern 

 Gulf of Mexico (Shipp 1986, Killam et al. 1992). It is 

 considered to be a major regulator of benthic inverte- 

 brate species and important in the structure and func- 

 tion of estuarine ecosystems (Phillips et al. 1989, 

 Killam et al. 1992). 



Range 



Overall : The spot is found along the coasts of the 

 western Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, ranging 

 from the Gulf of Maine to the Bay of Campeche, Mexico 

 in coastal shelf waters in depths up to 205 m (Bigelow 

 and Schroeder 1953, Springer and Bullis 1956, NOAA 

 1985). It is most abundant from Chesapeake Bay to 

 the Carolinas, and is uncommon in the Florida Keys 

 (Fischer 1978, Wang and Kernehan 1979). 



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