Spot, Leiostomus xanthurus
Spot, Leiostomus xanthurus. Fish caught from coastal waters off Long Island, New York, July 2023. Length: 16 cm (6.2 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Aidan Perkins, Long Island, New York.
Spot, Leiostomus xanthurus. Fish caught from coastal waters off Corpus Cristi, Texas, March 2019. Length: 15 cm (5.9 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Eli (obsessiveangling.wordpress.com).
Spot, Leiostomus xanthurus. Fish caught from coastal waters off Gulf Shores, Alabama, Alabama, September 2023. Length: 51 cm (20 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Luke Ovgard, Klamath Falls, Oregon.
Spot, Leiostomus xanthurus. Fish caught from coastal waters off Charleston, South Carolina, June 2012. Length: 15 cm (5.9 inches). Catch, photograph, and identification courtesy of Josh Leisen (joshadventures.com), Gaylord, Michigan.
Spot, Leiostomus xanthurus. Fish caught from coastal waters of Point Lookout State Park, Scotland, Maryland, June 2012. Length: 18 cm (7.0 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Kenneth Tse, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The Spot, Leiostomus xanthurus, is a member of the Croaker or Sciaenidae Family, and is also known as the Spot Croaker and the Norfolk Spot and in Mexico as croca. There is one global member of the genus Leiostomus, this species, that is found In Mexican waters of the Atlantic Ocean.
The Spot has a moderately deep short compressed body with a humped back. They are silvery gray in color and darker dorsally transitioning to golden yellow ventrally. Their back has 11 to 15 oblique narrow bars, that fade with maturity, and they have a prominent spot the size of the iris behind the upper corner of the gill cover. Their caudal and dorsal fins are dusky; their other fins are yellowish. Their head is small and low with a small mouth slightly under the snout that reaches the middle of the eyes and is equipped with simple teeth set in bands. They lack barbels but have 5 pores on the chin, and 10 pores on the snout. Their anal fin has 2 spines, the second is one-half the length of the first ray, and 12 or 13 rays with a short base; their caudal fin is straight or slightly concave with a moderately deep base; their dorsal fin has 11 spines and 29 to 35 rays with a large notch. They have 30 to 36 slender gill rakers. They are covered with rough scales. Their lateral line extends to the end of the caudal fin.
The Spot is found over sandy and muddy substrate in both marine and brackish water systems at depths up to 60 m (195 feet), but are normally found in very shallow waters, in large slow-moving aggregates of 100 or more individuals. They reach a maximum of 36 cm in length and 0.65 kg (1.0 lb 7 oz) in weight. The Spot has the ability to tolerate a wide range of temperatures 2oC (35oF) to 35oC (95oF) and very low salinities (freshwater), making them of interest scientifically. They are subject to mass mortalities during colder water episodes The Spot make seasonal migrations entering bays and estuaries in the spring, where they remain until late summer or fall and then migrate offshore to spawn forming spawning aggregations. They are active nocturnally and are omnivores that consume benthic invertebrates including crabs and shrimp, polychaetes, crustaceans, mollusks, plankton, small fish, and detritus. Their larvae are heavily preyed upon by Silversides. They are considered to be an important forage fish, being preyed upon by a wide variety of larger oceanic fishes. Male Spot are capable of generating a drumming sound. Reproduction is dioecious with separate sexes and oviparous with external fertilization with broadcast spawning. Each female produces between 100,000 and 1,700,000 pelagic eggs, that are are transported into low salinity estuaries and tidal creeks by the wind and currents. The juveniles remain in coastal waters for their first year and are known to enter fresh water estuaries and tidal creeks. As of March 31, 2023, the International Game Fish Association world record for stood at 0.65 kg (1 lb 7 oz) with the fish caught in coastal waters off Virginia in October 2004. They have life spans of six years.
The Spot is a straightforward identification due its body shape, relatively small stature, prominent large black spot above the upper edge of the gill cover and faint oblique stripes on their body. They are somewhat similar to the Atlantic Croaker, Micropogonias undulatus (chin barbel) and the Silver Perch, Bairdiella chrysoura (round caudal fin).
The Spot is a resident of Mexican waters of the Atlantic but is limited to the Gulf of Mexico ranging from the Texas boarder to the Bay of Campeche, Tabasco.
From a conservation perspective the Spot is currently considered to be of Least Concern, with stable, widely distributed populations. The Spot is small in stature but considered to be a quality food fish for humans. They are a targeted species of recreational fishermen. Commercially they were fished heavily and are processed into pet food at a level of 4,000 tons per year but this fishery has dried up due to the ban of gill nets in the coastal waters of the Southeast United States in 1995. Smaller Spot are used as live bait by recreational anglers targeting a wide variety of fishes. Efforts to develop a commercial fishery for Spot by aquaculture is on-going.