Range and Behavior
The spot croaker is most commonly found between the Chesapeake Bay and South Carolina. It is also found along the Atlantic coast of the US, the Florida Keys, and the Gulf of Mexico, but in smaller populations. They inhabit costal areas, no deeper than 60 m. This appears to be due to the tendency of Spot croakers to ascend in response to higher salinity concentrations which would be experienced in the lower depths. During the summer months, spot croakers inhabit shallower bays and estuaries and move out into the costal waters during the winter months as the temperature drops; the northern populations also migrate south for the winter until the water warms up again.
Spot croakers are bottom feeders, and their diets consist of worms, mollusks,small crustaceans, and detritus. As they grow, the size of their prey increases. Predators of the spot croaker include striped bass, weakfish, summer flounder, bluefish, and various species of sharks.
Read more about this topic: Spot Croaker
Famous quotes containing the words range and/or behavior:
“[F]or as Socrates says that a wise man is a citizen of the world, so I thought that a wise woman was equally at liberty to range through every station or degree of men, to fix her choice wherever she pleased.”
—Sarah Fielding (1710–1768)
“No one thinks anything silly is suitable when they are an adolescent. Such an enormous share of their own behavior is silly that they lose all proper perspective on silliness, like a baker who is nauseated by the sight of his own eclairs. This provides another good argument for the emerging theory that the best use of cryogenics is to freeze all human beings when they are between the ages of twelve and nineteen.”
—Anna Quindlen (20th century)