Teleostei (teleosts) >
Eupercaria/misc (Various families in series Eupercaria) >
Sciaenidae (Drums or croakers)
Etymology: Menticirrhus: Latin, mentum = beard, chin + Latin, cirrus = curly.
More on authors: Bloch & Schneider.
Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range
Ecology
Marine; brackish; demersal; depth range 10 - ? m. Subtropical; 43°N - 11°S
Western Atlantic: Massachusetts to southern Florida in USA and Gulf of Mexico to Yucatan in Mexico.
Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm 25.6  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 46.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 7251); common length : 30.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 3702); max. published weight: 1.1 kg (Ref. 40637); max. reported age: 4 years (Ref. 127588)
Adults occur usually in shallow coastal waters over sand to sandy mud bottoms. Common in the surf zone and in estuaries. Juveniles may enter tidal rivers and creeks of low salinity. Feed mainly on worms and crustaceans. An excellent food fish.
Robins, C.R. and G.C. Ray, 1986. A field guide to Atlantic coast fishes of North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, U.S.A. 354 p. (Ref. 7251)
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-2)
Threat to humans
Harmless
Human uses
Fisheries: minor commercial; gamefish: yes
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Estimates based on models
Preferred temperature (Ref.
123201): 11.2 - 27.6, mean 24.2 °C (based on 232 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref.
82804): PD
50 = 0.5020 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00794 (0.00515 - 0.01226), b=3.04 (2.92 - 3.16), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species & (Sub)family-body (Ref.
93245).
Trophic level (Ref.
69278): 3.6 ±0.5 se; based on diet studies.
Generation time: 2.0 ( na - na) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 2
growth studies.
Resilience (Ref.
120179): High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (K=0.5).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref.
59153): Low to moderate vulnerability (26 of 100).
Climate Vulnerability (Ref.
125649): Moderate vulnerability (43 of 100).
Nutrients (Ref.
124155): Calcium = 98 [55, 187] mg/100g; Iron = 1.1 [0.6, 1.9] mg/100g; Protein = 21.4 [19.4, 23.7] %; Omega3 = 0.334 [0.195, 0.554] g/100g; Selenium = 21.8 [11.5, 42.6] μg/100g; VitaminA = 9.35 [3.35, 31.47] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.851 [0.609, 1.240] mg/100g (wet weight);