Sciaenops ocellatus 

 Adult 



20 cm 



(from Goode 1884) 



Common Name: red drum 

 Scientific Name: Sciaenops ocellatus 

 Other Common Names: red fish, red bass, channel 

 bass, drum, branded drum, school drum, spotted bass, 

 spottail (Welsh and Breder 1 924, Pearson 1 928, Yokel 

 1 966, Bryan 1 971 , Hoese and Moore 1 977, Overstreet 

 and Heard 1 978, Benson 1 982, Daniels and Robinson 

 1 986, WRGF 1 991 ); tambour rouge (French), corvinon 

 ocelado (Spanish), corvina (Spanish) (Fischer 1978, 

 NOAA 1985). Smaller fish (<2.27 kg) are called rat 

 reds or puppy drum while larger fish (>2.27 kg) are 

 referred to as bull reds (Welsh and Breder 1924, 

 Breuer 1 957, Yokel 1 966, Christmas and Waller 1 973). 

 Classification (Robins et al. 1991) 

 Phylum: Chordata 

 Class: Osteichthyes 

 Order: Perciformes 

 Family: Sciaenidae 



Value 



Commercial : The red drum is highly prized as a food 

 fish throughout its range and was probably the most 

 important sciaenid commercially before harvest was 

 virtually banned. Although some commercial fishery 

 exists on the Atlantic coast, the main industry existed 

 along the northern Gulf of Mexico in Texas, Louisiana, 

 and Florida (Boothby and Avault 1971, Bass and 

 Avault 1975, Hoese and Moore 1977, Matlock et al. 

 1977, Perret et al. 1980, Benson 1982, Vetter et al. 

 1983). Commercially harvested fish are mainly cap- 

 tured by netting using both gill and trammel nets, and 

 also by trotlines (Matlock et al. 1 977, Adkins et al. 1 979, 

 Heffernan and Kemp 1980, Matlock 1980). Fish in the 

 Gulf of Mexico are also caught by hand lines, beach 

 seines in the surf, and shrimp trawls in the intertidal 

 zone. Harvest occurs mainly during fall (October 



through December) and spring (March through June), 

 and usually in estuaries (Matlock 1980). Landings 

 declined for Gulf coast states during the 1970's and 

 1980's probably due to over-fishing and habitat de- 

 struction (Heffernan and Kemp 1982, Swingle et al. 

 1984). These reported declines resulted in closure of 

 the Texas commercial fishery in 1981, closure of the 

 Alabama commercial fisheries, and restriction of the 

 harvest in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida. Com- 

 mercial landings for 1985 were: Alabama 1,292 mt; 

 Mississippi 12 mt; and Louisiana 1,334 mt (NMFS 

 1986). A fishery management plan developed under 

 emergency rule by the National Marine Fisheries Ser- 

 vice (NMFS) was implemented for federal waters in 

 1 986 (Swingle pers. comm., NMFS 1 986, Shipp 1 986). 

 Regulation was needed due to uncontrolled harvest by 

 the purse seine industry off the Louisiana coast that 

 was supplying red drum to the market for the popular 

 Cajun dish "blackened redfish." Harvest was prohib- 

 ited in federal waters off of Texas and Florida, and in 

 1 990, this ban was extended to include the entire Gulf 

 of Mexico (GMFMC 1996a). Surveys indicate that 

 spawning stocks in these waters should be restored in 

 the future, depending on the effectiveness of escape- 

 ment measures enacted to protect age classes I through 

 IV. 



Recreational : Anglers revere this species as both a 

 game and food fish. Its fighting ability on light tackle 

 and delectable flavor has probably made this fish the 

 most important recreational species of sciaenid in the 

 Gulf of Mexico. It is especially esteemed for the table 

 in the south, but in the northern part of its range its 

 principal interest to sportsmen isasagamefishforsurf 

 fishing (Welsh and Breder 1924, Arnold et al. 1960, 

 Boothby and Avault 1971, Bass and Avault 1975, 



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