Rare Redfish Hybrid Caught in Florida

[Bob Riebe]

Have you seen a drum like this? The fish looks similar to a redfish, but it also has characteristics of a black drum. Capt. Billy Rotne
Captain Billy Rotne, of Ponce Inlet Charters, positioned his friend within range of a school of black drum and redfish mixed together in Florida’s Indian River Lagoon. In front of the canoe, angler Kieran Hoffman was ready with his 6-weight fly rod and a black-and-purple Caloosa Flat’s Crab fly.

The pair had fished together many times before, and caught plenty of drum on their trips. But this trip was different.

Hoffman fought and tired another drum successfully, bringing it close to the canoe for release. The fish fought like a typical redfish, said Hoffman. But when the two anglers got eyes on the catch, they were thrown off. They instantly knew this fish was different.

“It had the pectoral fins of a black drum, a wider body profile than a redfish, and yet a slimmer profile than a black drum,” said Rotne. “The teeth, scales, tail and slime were those of a redfish. It had a bronze-like color that was darker than a redfish, but lighter than a black drum. There were no barbels or markings of any kind, including stripes or spots.”

The two anglers suspected Hoffman had landed a redfish-black drum hybrid. Although redfish and black drum are both in the Sciaenidae family, they spawn in distinctive areas and at different times of the year. To see a hybrid of the two species in the wild is very rare.
Odd features: The coloring of this hybrid is better aligned with a black drum. There’s no black dot on the tail or reddish tint common with redfish. And the elongated body shape looks closer to a redfish than a black drum. Capt. Billy Rotne
“The likelihood of hybridity in wild populations is low given the temporal and spatial differences with spawning in these species,” says Sarah Walters Burnsed, a marine fisheries biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute. “Reds are fall spawners in nearshore waters while black drum spawn in spring, closer to shore and within the estuaries.”

But black drum and redfish can reproduce together. Both produce distinct sounds associated with reproduction, vibrating specialized sonic muscles against their swim bladders, says Burnsed. Aquaculture studies found that crossing female black drum with male red drum produced offspring that grew faster than their parents and still tasted about the same.

“Mosquito Lagoon is something of a special case,” says Michael D. Tringali, a senior research scientist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute. “Fish life histories and behaviors often differ in that system. Whereas red drum typically spawn in nearshore waters elsewhere, they may spawn inside the lagoon. This would conceivably remove the spatial constraint to cross-species fertilization. The catch is tantalizing. The hints of vertical striping are hard to explain.”
Check the mouth on this drum hybrid. No chin barbels characteristic of a black drum. Capt. Billy Rotne
External indicators such as ray counts and clear morphometric differences can help identify fish species, but the best option is to conduct a diagnostic test on a fin clip, says Burnsed. A genetic test of this nature would have given a definitive answer. Rotne and Hoffman took a couple photos of the fish and released it back into the lagoon without getting a fin clip.

Still, Rotne, who has caught thousands of redfish and black drum in the Indian River lagoon, is confident in Hoffman’s catch.

“That’s the only hybrid I’ve seen in my 25 years fishing the lagoon,” said Rotne. “I have not seen or heard of an angler ever catching a fish like this. It could be the first true wild hybrid ever caught.”

The post Rare Redfish Hybrid Caught in Florida appeared first on Salt Water Sportsman.

[Land_Owner]

Fishing in Florida...even the fish are weird.

[Ranger99]

I've caught a good many redfish like
that as far as shape in the gulf waters
and inshore.
The bigger ones get that moby dick
shaped head as they start passing the
14- 16 pound range like gulf water
dolphins ( the mahi mahi dolphins
with the yellow-green iridescence,
not the Flipper television show
dolphin/porpoises that are mammals)
The only thing I see different is the
lack of black tail spots on the visible
side of the photo. I've caught a good
many, and they've all had at least
one spot on one side, most have
multiple spots on both sides.
But the larger heavier "bull" reds
always had the blunt nose

Nice fish regardless

[Ranger99]

Semi related
Redfish are another fish that had
little or no interest until the yuppie
fad of blackened redfish and the
subsequent sport pursuit of redfish
and the proliferation of tunnel hull
jackplate equipped specialty
"flats" boats. Years ago I know
that people were netting redfish
commercially and nobody cared
anything for them