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Spot

Leiostomus xanthurus

Information and species illustrations courtesy of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Species Information
Size Maximum 36 cm; common to 25 cm.
Diagnostic characters
Habitat, biology, and fisheries Found over sandy or muddy bottoms in coastal waters to about 60 m. The fish spend the summer and autumn in their nursing and feeding grounds in estuaries, the young-of-the year often remaining in the estuarine waters. Feed mainly on bottom-dwelling worms, small crustaceans, and organic detritus. Caught with bottom trawls, seines, gill nets, and pound nets; also on hook-and-line by anglers. Seasonal fisheries in river estuaries, and along beaches throughout its range, except off the southern tip of Florida. Larger fish marketed fresh and becoming quite popular in recent years; smaller fish are mainly used for manufacture of pet food and for bait.
Distribution Atlantic coast, Cape Cod to Florida and Gulf of Mexico, from Florida to Rio Grande.
Citations Carpenter, K.E. (ed) The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Volume 1: Introduction, molluscs, crustaceans, hagfishes, sharks, batoid fishes, and chimaeras. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes and American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 5. Rome, FAO. 2002. pp. 1-600. Carpenter, K.E. (ed) The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Volume 2: Bony fishes part 1 (Acipenseridae to Grammatidae). FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes and American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 5. Rome, FAO. 2002. pp. 601-1374. Carpenter, K.E. (ed) The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Volume 3: Bony fishes part 2 (Opistognathidae to Molidae), sea turtles and marine mammals. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes and American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 5. Rome, FAO. 2002. pp. 1375-2127.