Page 19 - DGO 2025
P. 19
2 3
2. ATLANTIC STURGEON 3.RED DRUM • GEORGIA’S NATIVE FISH •
Acipenser oxyrinchus Sciaenops ocellatus
As Georgia’s longest fish, the Atlantic The red drum fish is the official state saltwater fish of Georgia and
Sturgeon may reach a length of up to varies in color from a deep coppery red to nearly silver.
14 feet over the course of its 60-year The fish has a distinctive black spot on the upper part of its
lifespan. Atlantic Sturgeon are bottom tail base that allows it to escape from predators in the
feeders that live in coastal waters and submerged grasses and soft mud along the shallow,
migrate back to their birthplace to spawn broken shorelines it inhabits. Red drum have different
in late summer or fall. They have a bony set diets based on their age, eating small crabs, shrimp, and
of scutes along their gray-colored marine worms until they grow older and feed on larger crabs,
bodies and four soft barbels at the front of shrimp, and smaller fish. The fish is a popular gamefish in the state, and
their mouths. it attracts anglers year-round.
17
D i s c o v er Geor gi a O ut doors . c om • 3 6 5 ° To tal M ar k eti ng
