This fish is found mostly in estuarian waters close to the shore, but is also found in salt waters. It ins native to the coasts of the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico from Massachusetts all the way down to the tip of the Yucatán Peninsula.
This fish is very important to recreational fishing, but is no longer
harvested commercially due to bans on gill nets along the coast. It is a
small fish, which can grow to 14 inches, but is commonly 10 inches or
smaller. IUCN Red List LC (Least Concern).
Photo from Smithsonian Environmental Research Center distributed
under license Creative Commons
Attribution 2.0 Generic.
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