*Information from FAO Species Identification Guide Western Central Atlantic*
Size
Maximum 25 cm; common to 20 cm.
Habitat, biology, and fisheries
Found in coastal waters over sandy and muddy bottoms, move to nursery and feeding areas in estuaries during summer months, sometimes enters fresh waters. Feeds mainly on crustaceans, worms, and occasionally fishes. No special fishery, caught mainly as bycatch with pound nets, seines, and bottom trawls, also by anglers. Only occasionally marketed fresh for human consumption (large specimens); mostly used for bait.
Distribution
Atlantic coast from Cape Cod to Florida and Caribbean islands; in Gulf of Mexico from west Florida to Rio Grande, Mexico.
