Species Type:
Fishes
Common Name(s):
Red drum
Size:
Red drum grow to an average of 40 inches long. The largest red drum caught in Florida weighed over 52 pounds!
Diet:
The diet of the red drum includes fish, such as mullet, pinfish, and killifish, as well as invertebrates.
Range & Habitat:
Red drum can tolerate a wide range of temperature and salinity. As juveniles, they are mainly found in estuaries and river mouths, but as they age, they will move into open coastal waters. They return to estuaries and shallow waters to spawn. They can be found in nearshore waters of the western Atlantic from Maryland to Florida, as well as throughout the Gulf of Mexico.
Details:
Red drum, also commonly referred to as redfish, are a common sport fish in Florida. They are a coppery bronze color, which fades to a white belly. They have one (or sometimes more) distinctive black spot on the base of their tail. Unlike the black drum, red drum do not have barbels on their lower jaw.