Sciaenidae

Atlantic croaker

Sciaenidae, the drums, is a family of ray-finned fishes in the order Acanthuriformes. They are also known as croakers in reference to how they croak. The family has 298 species in 67 genera.

Taxonomy

Sciaenidae was first made in 1829 by Georges Cuvier. Fishes of the World classifies the family in the suborder Sciaenoidei, while others classify them within the series Eupercaria. Fishes of the World, FishBase and Catalog of Fishes do not place subfamilies in this family.

Genera

The following genera are classified within the family Sciaenidae:

• Aplodinotus Rafinesque, 1819
• Argyrosomus De la Pylaie, 1835
• Aspericorvina Fowler, 1834
• Atractoscion Gill, 1862
• Atrobucca Chu, Lo & Wu, 1963
• Austronibea Trewavas, 1977
• Bahaba Herre, 1935
• Bairdiella Gill, 1861
• Boesemania Trewavas, 1977
• Cheilotrema Tschudi, 1846
• Chrysochir Trevawas & Yazdani, 1966
• Cilus Delfin, 1900
• Collichthys Günther, 1860
• Corvula Jordan & Eigenmann, 1889
• Ctenosciaena Fowler & B. A. Bean, 1923
• Cynoscion Gill, 1861
• Daysciaena Talwar, 1971
• Dendrophysa Trewavas, 1964
• Elattarchus Jordan & Evermann, 1896
• Eques Bloch 1793
• Genyonemus Gill, 1861
• Isopisthus Gill, 1862
• Johnius Bloch, 1793
• Kathala Lal Mohan 1969
• Larimichthys Jordan & Starks, 1905
• Larimus Cuvier, 1830
• Leiostomus Lacépède, 1802
• Lonchurus Bloch, 1793
• Macrodon Schinz, 1822
• Macrospinosa Lal Mohan, 1969
• Megalonibea Chu, Lo & Wu, 1963
• Menticirrhus Gill, 1861
• Micropogonias Bonaparte, 1831
• Miichthys Lin, 1938
• Miracorvina Trewavas, 1962
• Nebris Cuvier, 1830
• Nibea Jordan & W. F. Thompson, 1911
• Odontoscion Gill, 1862
• Ophioscion Gill, 1863
• Otolithes Oken, 1817
• Otolithoides Fowler, 1933
• Pachypops Gill, 1861
• Pachyurus Agassiz, 1831
• Panna Lal Mohan, 1969
• Paralonchurus Bocourt, 1869
• Paranebris Chao, Béarez and Robertson, 2001
• Paranibea Trewavas, 1977
• Pareques Gill in Goode, 1876
• Pennahia Fowler, 1926
• Pentheroscion Trewavas, 1962
• Petilipinnis Casatti, 2002
• Plagioscion Gill, 1861
• Pogonias Lacépède, 1801
• Protonibea Trewavas, 1971
• Protosciaena Sasaki, 1989
• Pseudolarimichthys Lo, Liu, Mohd Nor & Chen, 2017
• Pseudotolithus Bleeker, 1863
• Pteroscion Fowler, 1925
• Pterotolithus Fowler 1933
• Robaloscion Béarez & Schwarzhans 2014
• Roncador Jordan & Gilbert, 1880
• Sciaena Linnaeus, 1758
• Sciaenops Gill, 1863
• Seriphus Ayres, 1860
• Sonorolux Trewavas, 1977
• Stellifer Oken, 1817
• Totoaba Villamar, 1980
• Umbrina Cuvier, 1816

Lompoquia retropes

Fossil record

• †Jefitchia Frizzell & Dante, 1965
• †Lompoquia Jordan & Gilbert, 1919

Fisheries

Drums are a delicious food and excellent game fish. Some species are very important, for example, Larimichthys polyactis, which had reported landings of 218,000–407,000 in 2000–2009. They are managed in the USA to ensure that they're sustainably harvested.

Croaking sound

One of the most famous traits of the Sciaenidae are their "croaking" sound. It is used as a mating call in some species. This is why they are sometimes called "croakers".

Use in communication

The croaking mechanism is not just for mating calls. It is also used to communicate with another drum. The croaking mechanism helps dolphins to easily find a group of sciaenids.

Related pages

• Wallace and Gromit
• Brown meagre
• Boesemania
• Martillichthys
• Jefitchia – an extinct sciaenid
• Lompoquia – another extinct sciaenid

Argyrosomus regius

References

1. Richard van der Laan; William N. Eschmeyer & Ronald Fricke (2014). "Family-group names of recent fishes". Zootaxa. 3882 (2): 1–230.
2. Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2023). "Sciaenidae" in FishBase. February 2023 version.