Inshore & surf · Saltwater
Red drum
Sciaenops ocellatus
Native estuarine-dependent sciaenid of the western Atlantic and Gulf, ranging Massachusetts to the Gulf of Mexico. Juveniles and subadults are estuarine residents; adults recruit to nearshore coastal water at roughly age 4-5. Managed as separate Atlantic and Gulf stocks.
Also called Redfish, Channel bass, puppy drum, bull red.
- Inshore
- Surf
- Nearshore
- Regulated context
- 4 of 4 overlays reviewed
- Reviewed 2026-08-27
Before you target this fish
Regulated context — check the rules for the exact water
Where this applies Federal EEZ (Gulf and South Atlantic) plus every Atlantic and Gulf coastal state; rules differ sharply between adjacent state waters and federal waters, and between management regions inside a single state.
The reviewed context, unedited
Harvest and possession of red drum are prohibited in federal waters. The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council lists harvest and possession as prohibited under the federal Red Drum FMP, and ASMFC states that a harvest moratorium together with a 2007 Presidential Executive Order prevents any harvest or sale of red drum from federal waters on the Atlantic coast. State slot and bag limits vary widely and change: Florida alone runs nine management regions with a statewide 18-27 in slot but bag limits of one fish per person with vessel limits of two or four depending on region, and the Indian River Lagoon region is catch-and-release only. ASMFC's 2024 benchmark assessment found the southern stock (South Carolina through Florida) overfished and experiencing overfishing. Confirm the rule for the exact water you are standing in, on the day you are there.
Rules for this fish change at a state line and sometimes inside one. Check the ones that apply to the exact water you are standing on before you act on anything here — this record is biology, not permission.
Take this somewhere
This page is the record. The reading is what happens when you add water, a season and a temperature to it — that is where the families below get ranked against each other instead of just listed.
Those three links carry the fish and nothing else. No conditions were declared on this page, so none travel, and the link says so rather than sending an empty reading.
The half nobody publishes
What this record does not know
Everything else on this page comes from a named agency or peer-reviewed source. This is the other side of that: the questions a reviewer went looking for an answer to and came back without, and the fields the record leaves empty because filling them would mean guessing.
It is here rather than at the bottom because a page that only shows what it knows is easy to read as a page that knows everything. For Red drum there are 18 of them.
Named by a reviewer
15Somebody looked for this and wrote down that they did not find it.
- Behaviour
Nobody has sourced:
- cold-front and barometric response with primary-source support
- water clarity response with primary-source support
- angling pressure response with primary-source support
- a resolved diel preference independent of tide stage
- territoriality and intraspecific aggression: no agency or peer-reviewed source located, fields omitted
- Identification
Nobody has sourced:
- sexual dimorphism: no agency source found describing an external field key, so the field is omitted rather than guessed
- a single continent-wide mean length or weight; the numbers above are state-specific sampling summaries
- regional common-name coverage beyond redfish, channel bass, puppy drum and bull red is not agency-verified
- Forage
Nobody has sourced:
- mollusk and annelid contribution: mentioned loosely in secondary literature, not confirmed in the agency accounts used here, so those forage classes are omitted
- month-by-month diet inside a season, which is system-specific
- a coastwide seasonal diet pattern; the seasonal entries above rest on the Louisiana FMP alone
- Season
Nobody has sourced:
- early_spring and early_summer entries: no agency or peer-reviewed source separated these from the adjacent seasons, so they are omitted rather than interpolated
- surf-zone seasonality: agency accounts confirm beach and surf-zone use but do not resolve it by season, so surf holding classes carry no seasonal timing here
- seasonal diet outside Louisiana; the forage emphases above rest on a single state FMP
- population-archetype calendars below species level
Absent from the record
3No reviewer wrote a gap here. The field is simply empty, which is its own answer.
- Water temperature
No agency or peer-reviewed temperature band for Red drum was found that a review would accept. The reading runs without one rather than borrowing a number from a related fish.
- Identification
No reviewed image. A photograph is only in this catalog when an agency or a named creator labelled the subject, and nobody has cleared one for this species yet.
- Population context
No regional population profile is registered. The species-level reading stands on its own; it does not silently become a local one.
Where the record puts it
Water and range
Inshore
6 reviewed holding classes- Grass flat
- Oyster bar
- Marsh edge
- Tidal creek
- Creek mouth
- Channel edge
Surf
2 reviewed holding classes- Surf trough
- Inner sandbar
Nearshore
2 reviewed holding classes- Nearshore reef
- Artificial reef
DepthShallow for its size. In a Texas lagoon array red drum occupied a mean depth of about 51 cm and used the shallow inner lagoon 82.6 percent of the time, with strong association to habitat edges (Moulton et al. 2017). Juveniles shift into deeper river channels and holes over winter (SCDNR). Adults leave the estuary for nearshore hard and live bottom and artificial reef at roughly age 4-5.
Moving waterTide-driven. Acoustic telemetry of wild subadults in a salt-marsh estuary (Dresser and Kneib 2007) found high site fidelity at low tide, with fish concentrated on a structured site carrying overhead structure and adjacent oyster reef, then predictable dispersal on the flood tide, some individuals moving through intertidal channels or across the flooded marsh surface. Larvae and postlarvae use tidal currents to enter estuaries. Moving water is a delivery mechanism and an access mechanism here, not cover.
LightNot resolved as a simple diel preference. Agency accounts describe daylight shallow feeding, including visible tailing over shallow grass beds (NC DMF). Telemetry shows light interacting with tide rather than overriding it: subadults that otherwise dispersed on a flood tide remained stationary when the flood began after sunset (Dresser and Kneib 2007).
Thermal band
Temperature
No reviewed temperature band
Nobody publishes a preferred or active temperature range for Red drum that a review would accept. Borrowing one from a related fish would look like knowledge and behave like a guess, so the reading runs without it and says which parts of the answer that weakens.
How it uses water
Behaviour
The species is not a uniformly schooling pelagic. Small estuarine fish behave as resident individuals or small groups tied to structure and marsh; large adults are the schooling life stage.
NC DMF describes red drum as bottom feeders taking small crabs and shrimp that will also feed in the water column on small fish, and notes visible tailing in shallow grass beds. LDWF describes larger juveniles and adults as dietary generalists feeding on whatever is locally abundant. The inferior, horizontal mouth is a down-facing apparatus; column feeding is a capacity, not the default.
No agency source gives a clean diel preference. Daylight shallow feeding is documented, including tailing over shallow grass. Telemetry shows light modifying the tidal response rather than driving movement on its own: subadults that dispersed on a daytime flood tide remained stationary when the flood began after sunset (Dresser and Kneib 2007).
Seasonal activityMovement rises in the cold half of the year. Moulton et al. 2017 recorded directed bay-scale movements in winter and spring, peaking December through March and coinciding with water temperatures below 15 degrees C, with some individuals moving up to 70 km although mean final displacement stayed under 5 km. SCDNR describes juveniles moving from marsh into deeper overwintering water and larger adults returning to nearshore areas in spring.
Temperature-driven behaviourLDWF gives a tolerance range of 2-35 degrees C (36-95 degrees F). Ward et al. 1993 measured critical thermal minima of about 1.6 degrees C for juveniles acclimated to 12 degrees C, and critical thermal maxima of about 29.5 degrees C at 12 degrees C acclimation rising to about 34.8 degrees C at 20 degrees C acclimation, with roughly 0.4 degrees C of cold tolerance gained per 1 degree C drop in acclimation temperature. That is a wide, acclimation-dependent envelope: red drum are one of the more thermally forgiving inshore species in this batch. TPWD nevertheless listed red drum among recreationally important species killed in the February 2021 Texas freeze.
Depth movementShallow-biased. Mean depth of about 51 cm in a Texas lagoon array, with the shallow inner lagoon used 82.6 percent of the time (Moulton et al. 2017). Juveniles drop into deeper river channels and holes over winter; adults leave for nearshore hard bottom and artificial reef at roughly age 4-5.
Facing the currentUses tide as a delivery and access mechanism. Fish hold at structured low-tide sites and disperse with the flood, some travelling through intertidal channels or across the flooded marsh surface (Dresser and Kneib 2007).
CoverStrong affinity for habitat edges rather than open bottom (Moulton et al. 2017): marsh edge interfaces in Spartina, seagrass beds, oyster reef, and structured sites carrying overhead structure. LDWF notes that structural complexity influences juvenile predator avoidance.
Open waterAdults that have emigrated from the estuary use nearshore coastal water, hard and live bottom, and artificial reef. LDWF documents movements exceeding 778 km over two-year periods, so an adult is not a fixture of any one system.
Spawning (conservation context)Autumn spawner. Agency accounts give late August through November with a peak in late September and early October, and spawning at dusk and at night. Females are highly fecund, producing up to roughly two million eggs in a season, and males generate drumming sounds by vibrating the swim bladder. Recorded here as conservation context. This record does not describe where spawning fish concentrate, and any such concentration is excluded from target guidance.
Where the general rule stops
- A fish caught legally in state water can be an illegal possession once the boat crosses into the EEZ. That boundary is a legal line, not a biological one, and this record does not draw it for you.
- Slot limits differ by state and, in Florida, by management region within the state. Do not carry one region's slot to the next.
- Large adults are old fish. ASMFC reports ages to about 60 years. Handling a 40 in fish is a conservation decision, not a size decision.
What it can eat
Forage
- Crustaceans
- Small forage fish
- Zooplankton
A bottom-oriented generalist. NC DMF describes red drum as bottom feeders on small crabs and shrimp that will also take small fish in the column. SCDNR gives adults feeding primarily on menhaden, spot, anchovies, blue crab and speckled crab, and juveniles on opossum shrimp, grass shrimp, juvenile spot, mud minnows, mud crabs and fiddler crabs. LDWF describes larger juveniles and adults as dietary generalists taking whatever is locally abundant. Capacity for any of these is not evidence that a bait event is happening now.
- Feeding style
- Opportunistic
- Feeding zone
- Benthic
Through the year
- Winter
- LDWF reports fish dominating winter and spring diets in Louisiana. Treat that as a documented seasonal pattern in one system, not a coastwide rule.
- Spring
- Fish continue to dominate in the LDWF seasonal pattern.
- Summer
- LDWF reports crustaceans, particularly blue crabs, dominating summer and autumn diets.
- Fall
- Crustacean-dominated in the LDWF pattern, blue crab in particular.
By life stage
- Young of year
- LDWF gives early juveniles taking copepods and mysid shrimp at roughly 30 percent of stomach contents, plus amphipods at roughly 9 percent. ASMFC gives juveniles on zooplankton and small crabs and shrimp.
- Juvenile
- SCDNR gives opossum shrimp, grass shrimp, juvenile spot, mud minnows, mud crabs and fiddler crabs. ASMFC describes juveniles typically preying on grass shrimp, small crabs and fish.
- Adult
- SCDNR gives menhaden, spot, anchovies, blue crab and speckled crab. Adults expand into fish and larger invertebrates with size.
Prey sizePrey size tracks gape and life stage: zooplankton and mysids in the first months, then shrimp and small crabs, then blue crab and clupeid-scale fish in adults.
Ontogenetic shiftZooplankton to benthic crustaceans to a mixed crustacean and fish diet. The species does not become obligately piscivorous; crustaceans stay central through adulthood.
SubstitutionsLDWF treats larger juveniles and adults as generalists feeding on locally abundant resources, so forage composition is a property of the system rather than of the species. A complete regional substitution table was not sourced.
Diet capacity is not proof that a bait or crustacean event is occurring. Observed current forage still comes from a user observation or Hatch Match.
Through the year
Season
Winter
- Where they sit
- Deeper river channels and holes inside the estuary; channel edges adjacent to the marsh and creek systems used the rest of the year.
- Depth
- Deeper than the rest of the year. SCDNR describes juveniles moving from marsh into deeper overwintering water.
- Movement
- Moulton et al. 2017 recorded directed bay-scale movement peaking December through March at water temperatures below 15 degrees C.
- Temperature
- Well inside the 2-35 degrees C tolerance range LDWF reports, but TPWD listed red drum among species killed in the February 2021 Texas freeze, so extreme cold events remain a real mortality source.
- Current
- Tide continues to govern access to shallow feeding ground; the flooded marsh is available less often at lower winter water levels.
What that changesBottom contact and live or natural bait suspension in the deeper channel water; tidal drift bait along channel edges.
What would count against it
- treating a winter fish as a shallow flooded-marsh fish
- assuming a cold snap has no consequence because the tolerance range is wide
Spring
- Where they sit
- Marsh edge, oyster bar, grass flat and tidal creek as fish return to shallow estuarine water; nearshore reef and artificial reef for adults returning inshore from the coast.
- Movement
- SCDNR describes larger adults returning to nearshore areas in spring. Directed bay-scale movement continues into spring in the Moulton et al. array.
- Feeding
- LDWF gives fish dominating spring diets in Louisiana.
- Current
- Flood-tide dispersal onto the flooded marsh surface and through intertidal channels resumes as water warms (Dresser and Kneib 2007).
What that changesTidal drift bait and live or natural bait suspension along edges the tide is already working; structure pitch at oyster bar.
What would count against it
- reading returning adults as a spawning event; spawning is autumn
Summer
- Where they sit
- Shallow estuarine edges: grass flat, marsh edge, oyster bar, tidal creek and creek mouth. Surf trough and inner sandbar along open beach.
- Depth
- Shallow. Moulton et al. recorded a mean depth of about 51 cm with the shallow inner lagoon used 82.6 percent of the time.
- Forage
- LDWF gives crustaceans, blue crab in particular, dominating summer diets.
- Current
- The clearest tidal signal of the year: site fidelity to structured water at low tide, dispersal onto the flooded marsh and through intertidal channels on the flood (Dresser and Kneib 2007).
- Cover
- Habitat edges over open bottom. Marsh edge interfaces, seagrass, oyster reef and overhead structure.
- Light
- Daylight shallow feeding including visible tailing over grass. A flood tide beginning after sunset did not produce the usual dispersal in the telemetry study, so light modifies the tidal response.
What that changesFlats sight cast where fish are actually visible; tidal drift bait and live or natural bait suspension on the edge the tide is running along; structure pitch at oyster; surf bait soak in the trough on open beach.
What would count against it
- sight-casting to water where no fish has been seen
- treating diet capacity for blue crab as a declared crab event
Late summer
- Where they sit
- Estuarine edges continue; adults increasingly nearshore.
What that changesUnchanged from summer for estuarine-resident fish. Do not convert the onset of the spawning period into a new approach.
What would count against it
- using the spawning period as a targeting window
Spawning begins in this window. Agency accounts give late August through November. Spawning concentrations are excluded from this record and from target guidance.
Fall
- Where they sit
- Nearshore hard and live bottom and artificial reef for adults; estuarine edges and channels for juveniles and subadults.
- Forage
- LDWF gives crustaceans, blue crab in particular, dominating autumn diets.
- Temperature
- Spawning has been associated with water temperature easing from about 29 degrees C down toward about 23 degrees C.
What that changesBottom contact and structure vertical over nearshore reef; tidal drift bait inside the estuary. No presentation change is derived from the spawning period itself.
What would count against it
- treating an autumn concentration of large fish as a target
- carrying a state slot limit across the federal boundary
Peak spawning is late September into early October. This is the most conservation-sensitive window in the red drum year and the reason the federal EEZ closure and state slot caps exist. Spawning and staging concentrations are excluded from target guidance.
Late fall
- Where they sit
- Spawning period tails off through November; estuarine fish begin the shift toward deeper channels and holes.
- Movement
- The transition into the December-March directed movement period documented by Moulton et al. 2017.
What that changesTidal drift bait and bottom contact along channel edges as fish leave the shallowest water.
What would count against it
- assuming shallow marsh access persists at the same tide stages as summer
Spawning overlap continues into November in agency accounts.
Spawning · Late summer, Fall
Autumn spawner. Agency accounts give late August through November with a peak in late September and early October, and spawning has been associated with water temperatures easing down from about 29 degrees C toward about 23 degrees C. Males produce a drumming sound with the swim bladder. Spawning is recorded here as conservation context only; no spawning or staging concentration is described.
Recorded as conservation context. No spawning site, staging concentration or migration bottleneck is named anywhere in this catalog, because naming one is how a population gets fished out.
Telling it apart
Identification
What to look at
- One or more black ocellated spots on the upper side, from below the soft dorsal back to the base of the tail. One spot is typical; multiple spots are common and are not a different fish.
- No barbels on the chin. This is the single cleanest separation from black drum, which carries chin barbels.
- Inferior, horizontal mouth with banded teeth: a bottom-oriented feeding apparatus.
- Iridescent silver-grey ground colour with a copper cast, darker along the back, paler to near-white below.
- Caudal fin is squared to very shallowly emarginate, not deeply forked.
- Average adult length
- SCDNR reports an average sampled fish of about 18 in and 2.6 lb in South Carolina. NC DMF gives a species maximum of about 5 ft.
- Common angling size
- State slot limits concentrate retained fish in a narrow band; Florida's statewide slot is 18-27 in total length, and other jurisdictions sit near that range. Fish above the slot are common and are released.
- Typical weight
- About 2-3 lb at the average sampled size reported by SCDNR; slot-sized fish commonly run a few pounds to roughly 8 lb.
- Maximum documented
- ASMFC gives up to about 60 in and in excess of 90 lb. NC DMF gives up to 5 ft and 100 lb. The South Carolina state record is 75 lb (1965).
- Longevity
- ASMFC reports ages up to about 60 years. SCDNR gives a maximum of about 38 years for South Carolina fish, noting older individuals elsewhere. Louisiana's FMP describes fish reaching about age 30 with some exceeding age 40.
What it gets confused with
- Black drum (Pogonias cromis)
- Black drum carry barbels on the chin; red drum have none. Black drum also lack the ocellated tail spot. NC DMF uses the barbel as the primary separation.
- Other sciaenids with dark markings (for example juvenile drums and croakers)
- The discrete round black ocellus at the caudal base, combined with an absence of chin barbels and an inferior horizontal mouth, separates red drum. Scattered irregular spotting over the back and dorsal fin belongs to spotted seatrout, not red drum.
- Spotted seatrout
- Spotted seatrout are grey-green with many small irregular black spots scattered over the back, dorsal fin and tail, and carry a pair of large canine teeth at the tip of the upper jaw. Red drum have one to several ocellated spots confined to the tail region and no prominent canines.
What follows from all of that
Presentation families
Inshore
Tidal drift bait
Let a natural bait travel at the speed of the tide along an edge fish are feeding on.
- match weight to the run
- stay in the seam
- let it swing at the end
- reset up-tide
What it asks of the tackle
- Depth control
- Moderate
- Sensitivity
- High
- Casting distance
- Short to moderate
- Weight range
- 1/8–1 oz
- Cover resistance
- Moderate
- Line visibility
- Low
- Retie frequency
- High
Live / natural bait suspension
Present a natural food form with enough life or scent to hold in a station without looking mechanical.
- keep it alive or fresh
- match the holding depth
- minimize hardware bulk
- detect without pulling it away
What it asks of the tackle
- Depth control
- High
- Sensitivity
- High
- Casting distance
- Short to moderate
- Weight range
- As light as conditions allow
- Cover resistance
- Moderate
- Line visibility
- Low
- Retie frequency
- High
Flats sight cast
Present to a fish you have actually seen, leading it so the bait arrives without landing on it.
- spot first, cast second
- lead the fish
- quiet entry
- strip or retrieve across its path
What it asks of the tackle
- Depth control
- Low
- Sensitivity
- High
- Casting distance
- Moderate
- Weight range
- Unweighted to 1/4 oz
- Cover resistance
- Low
- Line visibility
- Low
- Retie frequency
- Moderate
Structure pitch
Put a bait tight against hard structure and get it out again before the tide sweeps it into the barnacles.
- accurate short casts
- immediate contact
- lead them out
- expect abrasion
What it asks of the tackle
- Depth control
- Moderate
- Sensitivity
- High
- Casting distance
- Short
- Weight range
- 1/8–3/4 oz
- Cover resistance
- High
- Line visibility
- Secondary
- Retie frequency
- Very high
Horizontal retrieve
Move a swimming bait through a chosen depth band along structure or open water.
- count down
- steady or pulsing retrieve
- keep the band
- cover the edge
What it asks of the tackle
- Depth control
- Moderate
- Sensitivity
- Moderate
- Casting distance
- Moderate to long
- Weight range
- 1/8–1/2 oz
- Cover resistance
- Moderate
- Line visibility
- Low
- Retie frequency
- Low
Surf
Surf bait soak
Hold a natural bait still on the bottom of a trough or cut and let moving water bring fish to it.
- enough lead to hold
- read the trough
- let the rod load
- reset as the tide moves the bar
What it asks of the tackle
- Depth control
- Low
- Sensitivity
- Moderate
- Casting distance
- Long
- Weight range
- 2–8 oz of lead
- Cover resistance
- Moderate
- Line visibility
- Secondary
- Retie frequency
- High
Surf swim retrieve
Swim a soft-bodied bait at a chosen height through the trough where fish are already feeding.
- slow enough to stay down
- quarter into the current
- pause on the drop-off
- feel the sand
What it asks of the tackle
- Depth control
- Moderate
- Sensitivity
- High
- Casting distance
- Long
- Weight range
- 1/2–2 oz
- Cover resistance
- Moderate
- Line visibility
- Moderate
- Retie frequency
- Moderate
Surf metal cast
Cover water beyond the break with a dense casting lure and retrieve it back through bars and rips.
- distance first
- keep it moving
- work the rip edge
- vary retrieve height
What it asks of the tackle
- Depth control
- Moderate
- Sensitivity
- Moderate
- Casting distance
- Very long
- Weight range
- 1–3 oz
- Cover resistance
- Moderate
- Line visibility
- Secondary
- Retie frequency
- Moderate
Nearshore
Bottom contact
Keep a bait on or just above the substrate along a break, flat, or inside a weed edge.
- feel bottom
- drag or hop
- pause on the break
- stay in contact
What it asks of the tackle
- Depth control
- High
- Sensitivity
- High
- Casting distance
- Moderate
- Weight range
- 1/8–1/2 oz
- Cover resistance
- High
- Line visibility
- Low
- Retie frequency
- High
Live / natural bait suspension
Present a natural food form with enough life or scent to hold in a station without looking mechanical.
- keep it alive or fresh
- match the holding depth
- minimize hardware bulk
- detect without pulling it away
What it asks of the tackle
- Depth control
- High
- Sensitivity
- High
- Casting distance
- Short to moderate
- Weight range
- As light as conditions allow
- Cover resistance
- Moderate
- Line visibility
- Low
- Retie frequency
- High
Structure vertical
Hold a presentation in the water column directly over hard structure and stay there as the boat moves.
- stay vertical
- hold the depth band
- short lifts
- reset when the line angles
What it asks of the tackle
- Depth control
- High
- Sensitivity
- High
- Casting distance
- None
- Weight range
- 2–16 oz
- Cover resistance
- High
- Line visibility
- Secondary
- Retie frequency
- High
What moves them for this fish
Reviewed rules that push particular families up when the conditions match. Each one names the conditions it needs and why it exists, so you can disagree with it.
Telemetry found subadult red drum showing high site fidelity to a structured low-tide site carrying overhead structure and adjacent oyster reef, with predictable dispersal only once the flood begins, so a falling tide concentrates fish at structure rather than spreading them across open water, and working that structure outperforms searching open grass for a sighted fish.
When
Inshore · Marsh edge, Oyster bar, Creek mouth · Ebbing
Moves up
Structure pitch, Tidal drift bait, Flats sight cast
Reviewed 2026-08-30
The same telemetry has fish dispersing off the low-tide structure and onto the flooded marsh surface and through intertidal channels once the tide turns, and agency accounts separately document visible daytime tailing over shallow grass, so a daylight flood favors sight-casting to fish spread across open water over working the structure they have just left.
When
Inshore · Marsh edge, Grass flat, Tidal creek · Bright or Mixed · Flooding
Moves up
Flats sight cast, Tidal drift bait, Structure pitch
Reviewed 2026-08-30
The same telemetry study found that subadults which normally disperse onto the flooded marsh on a daytime flood stayed put at their low-tide structured site when the flood began after sunset, so a flooding tide after dark should not be read as the same dispersal cue it is in daylight.
When
Inshore · Marsh edge, Oyster bar, Creek mouth · Night · Flooding
Moves up
Structure pitch, Live / natural bait suspension, Flats sight cast
Reviewed 2026-08-30
Where every sentence came from
Sources
Agency
Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, 2024 Red Drum Fishery Management Plan
Used for habitat, thermal band and presentation families; identification; behaviour; forage; season. Read 2026-08-30, next check 2026-11-27.
Agency
SCDNR marine species account: red drum
Used for habitat, thermal band and presentation families; identification; behaviour; forage; season. Read 2026-08-30, next check 2026-11-27.
Agency
NC DMF red drum species profile
Used for habitat, thermal band and presentation families; identification; behaviour; forage. Read 2026-08-30, next check 2026-11-27.
Agency
ASMFC, Sciaenops ocellatus Red Drum: Life History and Habitat Needs
Used for habitat, thermal band and presentation families; season. Read 2026-08-30, next check 2026-11-27.
Agency
TPWD news release, 23 February 2021, winter weather fish kills on the Texas coast
Used for behaviour; season. Read 2026-08-30, next check 2026-11-25.
Agency
ASMFC red drum species page and Amendment 2 interstate FMP materials
Used for habitat, thermal band and presentation families. Read 2026-08-27, next check 2026-11-27.
Agency
Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, Red Drum FMP species page
Used for habitat, thermal band and presentation families. Read 2026-08-27, next check 2026-11-27.
Agency
FWC red drum recreational regulations (nine Florida management regions)
Used for habitat, thermal band and presentation families. Read 2026-08-27, next check 2026-11-27.
Agency
Used for identification. Read 2026-08-30, next check 2026-11-20.
Agency
FWC red drum recreational regulations
Used for identification. Read 2026-08-30, next check 2026-11-20.
Agency
ASMFC red drum species page and life-history and habitat-needs document
Used for forage. Read 2026-08-30, next check 2026-12-01.
Peer reviewed
Dresser and Kneib 2007, Fisheries Management and Ecology 14:183-190
Used for behaviour; season. Read 2026-08-30, next check 2026-11-25.
Peer reviewed
Moulton et al. 2017, Estuaries and Coasts 40:905-916
Used for behaviour; season. Read 2026-08-30, next check 2026-11-25.
Peer reviewed
Dresser and Kneib 2007, site fidelity and movement of wild subadult red drum in a salt-marsh estuary, Fisheries Management and Ecology 14:183-190
Used for habitat, thermal band and presentation families. Read 2026-08-27, next check 2026-11-27.
Peer reviewed
Moulton et al. 2017, habitat partitioning and seasonal movement of red drum and spotted seatrout, Estuaries and Coasts 40:905-916
Used for habitat, thermal band and presentation families. Read 2026-08-27, next check 2026-11-27.
Peer reviewed
Ward, Blandon, King and Beitinger 1993, comparisons of critical thermal maxima and minima of juvenile red drum from Texas and North Carolina, Northeast Gulf Science 13(1)
Used for habitat, thermal band and presentation families. Read 2026-08-27, next check 2026-11-27.
Peer reviewed
Ward, Blandon, King and Beitinger 1993, Northeast Gulf Science 13(1)
Used for behaviour. Read 2026-08-30, next check 2026-11-25.
A source with no link predates the rule that one has to carry a URL. It is still a real citation and still checkable; it just takes a search rather than a click, and that is worth knowing before you rely on it.