Species: Stellifer lanceolatus, Star Drum

Stellifer lanceolatus (Holbrook, 1855)

Star Drum

Body oblong, robust, moderately compressed; head low and broad, concave on nape, skull cavernous and spongy to touch; eyes relatively large (18-23% of head); mouth large, strongly oblique, opens at front, top lip usually above level of lower edge of eye; no barbels on chin, but 6 pores; preopercle with 4-6 strong bony spines at angle; gill rakers long and slender, 32-36, densely packed; top corner of gill opening notched; dorsal fin XI-XII + I, 21-25, deep notch between spiny and soft parts of fin; anal fin II, 8-9, 2nd spine ~2/3 of 1st ray; tail fin long, sharply to bluntly pointed; pored lateral line scales 53-56; scales rough on body, mostly smooth on chest, smooth on head; soft dorsal with 2-3 rows of small scales along its base; the lateral line extends to the center of the end of the tail fin.

Silvery grey to olive above, sometimes with a pinkish cast, pale below; fins pale to dusky, tip of 1st dorsal dark; inside gill chamber with black speckling; no dark band at front behind teeth; 1st gill arch pale.

Reaches 20 cm.

Hard sandy mud bottoms, including estuaries and brackish water

Depth range: 0-20 m.

Chesapeake Bay to the NW Caribbean.