Red drum | |
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Red drum | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Acanthuriformes |
Family: | Sciaenidae |
Genus: | Sciaenops Gill, 1863 |
Species: | S. ocellatus
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Binomial name | |
Sciaenops ocellatus (Linnaeus, 1766)
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The red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus), also known as redfish, channel bass, puppy drum, spottail bass, or simply red, is a game fish found in the Atlantic Ocean from Massachusetts to Florida and in the Gulf of Mexico from Florida to northern Mexico.[2] It is the only species in the genus Sciaenops.
The red drum is related to the black drum (Pogonias cromis), and the two species are often found near to each other; they can interbreed and form a robust hybrid, and younger fish are often indistinguishable in flavor.[3]