Species: Bairdiella ronchus, Ground Croaker

Bairdiella ronchus (Cuvier in Cuvier & Valenciennes, 1830)
Ground Croaker
Body elongate, oblong, compressed; head narrow, cavernous but firm to touch; eye large (21-24% of head length); snout pointed; moderately oblique large mouth opens slightly under snout; snout with 8 pores, 3 above and 5 on sides; chin with 5 pores, no chin barbel; teeth small, conical, in narrow bands on both jaws; gill rakers long and slender, 21-27 (usually 24-25), longest gill raker longer than ½ gill filament behind it; preopercle serrated, with a few strong spines at angle, the lowermost directed downwards; top corner of gill opening notched; dorsal fin deeply notched between spines and rays X-XI+I, 21-26; anal fin II, 8 (7-9), second spine very strong, as long as first ray; tail fin slightly rounded; scales rough on body and top of head, smooth on cheek; lower half of soft dorsal and inner 3/4 of soft anal scaled; pored lateral-line scales 54-59; the lateral line extends to the center of the end of the tail fin.
Color: greyish above, silvery below; faint dark streaks along sides (oblique above, horizontal below); dorsal and tail fins greyish with dark margins; front of anal fin speckled.
Size: reaches 35 cm.
Inhabits inshore shallows on sand and mud bottoms, entering brackish water.
Depth: 5-40 m, usually below 16 m.
The Caribbean to Guyana.
Note: The Gulf of Mexico population is a separate species, B. veraecrucis

High Resolution Map Download
- Salinity
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- Brackish
- Freshwater
- Marine
- Inshore/Offshore
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- Inshore
- Inshore Only
- Water Column Position
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- Bottom
- Habitat
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- Soft bottom (mud/sand/gravel/beach/estuary/mangrove/seagrass)
- Soft bottom only
- Beach
- Estuary
- Freshwater
- Mud
- FishBase Habitat
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- Demersal
- Feeding Group
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- Carnivore
- Data
- Planktivore
- Diet
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- Data
- Zooplankton
- Bony fishes
- Mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs)
- Mobile benthic gastropods/bivalves
- Mobile benthic worms
- Sea-stars/cucumbers/urchins
- Egg Type
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- Data
- Pelagic
- Pelagic larva
- Global Endemism
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- All species
- Greater Caribbean endemic
- West Atlantic Endemic
- Regional Endemism
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- Continent
- Continent + Island (s)
- GC endemic
- Island (s)
- All species
- Residency
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- Resident
- Climate Zone
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- Equatorial (0-10N, Costa Rica / Venezuela)
- Tropical (10-23N, Nicaragua / Cuba)
- IUCN Red List
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- Least concern
- Listed
- CITES
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- Not listed
- Length Max
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- 35
- Depth Range Min
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- 5
- Depth Range Max
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- 40