Background

The Atlantic croaker (Micropogonias undulatus), also known by its common name, hardhead (also King Billy, grumbler), belongs to the family of fishes called Sciaenidae, which includes other Bay species such as spot, black drum and red drum. The croakers and drums characteristically produce a drumming sound by vibrating their swim bladders with special muscles. Croakers are luminescent and appear pink when first removed from the water. A croaker’s tail is slightly pointed, and it has faint stripes across its back and small chin barbels.

The Atlantic croaker can be found along the coast from Cape Cod, Massachusetts to Campeche Bank, Mexico. It is one of the most abundant inshore fish species, especially in the southeastern Atlantic and northern Gulf of Mexico, although in recent years it is not as plentiful or widely distributed as its close cousin, the spot. Some scientists speculate that very cold weather kills juveniles that enter the Bay in the fall and winter, but this could also reflect increasing numbers of their predators, including bluefish and striped bass.

• Adult croaker generally spend the spring and summer in estuaries and move offshore and south along the Atlantic coast in the fall.
• In the Chesapeake Bay, croaker migrate upriver and up the Bay in the spring, swim randomly during summer, and migrate downriver and to the lower Bay in the fall.
• Adult croaker can be found in the Bay from March to October, with peak abundance from May through August.
• Croaker are opportunistic bottom-feeders that consume a variety of invertebrates and occasionally fish.
• They prefer muddy bottoms and depths less than 120 meters. They are considered a euryhaline species–able to tolerate a wide range of salinities–and adults have been collected in waters with temperatures ranging between 50 and 93 degrees F.
• Predators of Atlantic croaker include striped bass, flounder, shark, spotted seatrout, other croaker, bluefish and weakfish.

Life Cycle

• Mature croaker spawn over shelf waters through the fall and winter.
• Female croaker from the Chesapeake Bay generally reach maturity at age 3, while 45 percent of male croaker reach maturity at age 2.
• The number of eggs per female ranges from 100,800 to 1,742,000 for fish between 7.7 inches and 15.4 inches long, and the size and age of the fish at maturity depends on location.
• Spawning can begin as early as September and continue through December. It occurs over a broad area, including the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.
• Young-of-the-year croaker have been collected in coastal estuaries off the Virginia coast from October to February and are known to move into the York River in May.
• Juvenile croaker prefer low-salinity habitats in open water to areas rich in submerged aquatic vegetation.
• The Atlantic croaker live for up to 8 years.

Commercial landings of Atlantic croaker from the Atlantic coast show a period of record high landings during the 1940s of 65 million pounds. By the early 1950s the commercial catch had decreased to less than 10 million pounds but was followed by a moderate increase. In 1970 the commercial catch hit a record low at 1 million pounds. There was a moderate peak in 1978 of 30 million pounds but over the past 10 years, croaker landings have declined to approximately 10 million pounds annually. In 1990 the landings were 6.7 million pounds. The majority of the catch came from the south Atlantic, particularly North Carolina.

Commercial landings for croaker from the Chesapeake Bay also declined dramatically from almost 60 million pounds in the 1940s to approximately 2 million pounds in the 1980s. Historically, the Chesapeake Bay region accounted for the majority of Atlantic Coast croaker landings. Maryland landings reached a peak of 6 million pounds in 1942 but by 1976 had declined to 1.06 million pounds. Virginia landings have been as high as 55 million pounds in 1937 but in the past few years have averaged 2.38 million pounds. In 1990 the Chesapeake region harvested 196,000 pounds.

Croaker are considered an important recreational species in the Chesapeake Bay, and usually rank within the top 10 species caught. Recreational landings from the mid-Atlantic region peaked in 1986 but have been declining. Maryland recreational catches in 1979 and 1980 were estimated at 1.07 million pounds and 18,150 pounds, respectively. Virginia recreational catches in 1985 and 1996 were 5.5 million and 3.06 million pounds, respectively.

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Last modified: 12/11/03