Louisiana State Saltwater Fish

Spotted Sea Trout or Speckled Trout

(Cynoscion nebulosus)

Adopted in 2001.

Found Gulfwide from deep interior estuaries out to 30 feet of water offshore. They are a schooling species, especially when small. They are not particularly attracted to hard bottoms or structure, but tend to be found in areas of current discontinuities.

Common Names

Speckled trout are known by many different names such as spotted sea trout, specks, yellow mouths, and paper mouths

Description

They are silver in color with olive-green tints on the back and numerous small black dots which extend over the dorsal fin and into the tail. The lower jaw is larger than the upper jaw which has two prominent canine teeth. In general, specks have an elongated body with a large mouth. The diet of speckled trout consists of small crustaceans, shrimp, & small fish such as pogies and croakers.

Size

Typically 1-3 pounds, fish to 5 pounds are not rare, and occasional fish exceed 10 pounds.  Specks like shallow coastal areas near sandy & mud bottoms.

Habitat

That speckled trout move within an estuary on a yearly basis is well known. Typically, they spend their summers in the high-salinity areas in the lower part of an estuary and their winters in the lower salinity waters of the upper estuary. Speckled trout tend to live in or near the same bay system all their lives.

Spotted seatrout do move seasonally within a bay system, however. During the pre-spawning period of February to early April, speckled trout are scattered throughout the system. By spawning season, May to September, almost all the fish large enough to spawn are concentrated in the higher salinity waters of the lower bays. In October, with the onset of cool fronts, spotted seatrout retreat inland into lower salinity estuaries, where they typically remain well into January or February

Spawning

During spawning season, males form drumming aggregations which can number in the hundreds or even thousands of fish. Within these aggregations, each male vibrates his air bladder, producing a croaking sound. When combined with the many other males' sounds, the result sounds like drumming or roaring. The sound attracts females ready to spawn. Both drumming aggregations and spawning take place in areas 6-165 deep with good tidal flow, such as passes and channels. Spawning begins at sunset and is usually over by midnight.

Speckled trout spawning activity depends on environmental factors such as currents, salinity and temperature. Most spawning activity seems to take place in salinities of 17-35 parts per thousand (ppt). Full strength seawater is 35 ppt. The two most important factors that determine when speckled trout spawn are water temperature and day length. Egg development begins to take place as days become longer in spring. Water temperatures of 68ºF seem to trigger spawning, which continues as water temperature increases. Peak spawning takes place between 77ºF and 86ºF. The cycle of the moon also seems to affect spawning, with spawning peaks occurring on or near the full moons of the spring and summer months. Females may spawn every 7 to 14 days during the April to September spawning period.

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