Black Drum

Prevalent along the Mississippi River Delta, black drum are a close relative to red drum, or redfish. Their behavior is similar to redfish, with the fish spending different stages of life in and out of brackish estuaries and males making a deep drumming noise to attract females when spawning. Unlike redfish, they can grow much bigger, with some growing to over 100 pounds. Smaller drum feed on small fish and crustaceans, while larger drum depend on harder-to-break shellfish like oysters, clams and mussels for food, making them an important part of an estuary’s food web. Drum are easy to recognize; they’re usually large and silvery in color, while smaller drums have gray bars along the lengths of their bodies.