Last week, the EFMC (Estuarine Fish Monitoring Cooperative) trawl lead by Dylan Bedortha pulled up an early juvenile red drum (aka. red fish, Sciaenops ocellatus) near St. Catherine’s Island in Sapelo Sound. This is a very rare catch in our trawl nets. In fact, this is the first time in 5 years we have seen one in our standardized trawls!!

Very little is known about where these early juvenile red drum are in our estuaries, which is why this catch is so exciting. In Georgia, red drum spawn in the fall. The fertilized eggs hatch quickly, and the larval fish are carried by the currents and tides into their nursery habitats: shallow waters to avoid predators, plenty of dissolved oxygen to breathe, and prey items to eat. From approximately December – late February, it is assumed the larval fish stay close to these important habitats, after which they grow rapidly and begin to migrate into deeper habitats. At this point, they are too big and too fast for our trawl nets to capture, so there’s only a very short window during the year where we may see or catch the juveniles in their preferred nursery habitat!

In the Gulf states, like Louisiana, sea grass beds serve as their preferred nursery habitat. However, Georgia does not have sea grass beds. Where and what exactly constitutes highly productive nursery habitat in Georgia is still a mystery! Every time we catch one of these early young-of-the-year fish, we get a little closer to finding the answer.

If you want to learn more about the lifecycle of red drum, check out our short animation here: https://youtu.be/bDQgS2rWvxE