I have heard and read many times that some of the 40 inch plus black drum are upwards of 80 years old. Does anyone on the board have some good information on their growth rates.

I don't know the answer off hand, but your question reminds me of an interesting study that a friend of mine was doing several years ago while he was a grad student at ODU (marine biology). He would go to the Eastern Shore and cut open the heads of the big black drum that had been harvested and found a small bone in their heads that when looked at under magnification would tell how old the drum was, kind of like rings on a tree. If I recall correctly, the big ones are pretty old, but I'm not sure about 80 years. I'll see if I can find his write up.

I found these two references for you:

Black drum are long-lived fish, with most studies indicating a maximum age of over 40 years and one study in Florida estimating a maximum of 58 years of age.


( from Louisiana fisheries)


Black drum are gray or black colored with a high arched back.
They get their common name from a large and elaborate swim bladder that, by using special muscles, can resonate to produce croaking or drumming sounds.
These fish have 10-14 sensory chin barbels that they use to detect bottom-dwelling prey.
They can crush these items by using their cobblestone-like teeth, or pharyngeal tooth plates.
Black drum are long-lived, with fish from age 7 to 57 years old observed in Chesapeake Bay.
(From Maryland fisheries)

Thanks for the reply. Even 57 or 58 years old is very respectable. The other info is cool too. I'll make it a point to release the old guys (probably gals) more gently from now on.

Who would want to eat 50 year old meat? If I remember right only one over 80lbs was killed and recorded last year.

ME! I'll eat'em. I can assure you that more were killed (and eaten) than the one that was registered.

They net them for commercial sale,I have seen the commercial boats pulling them in.They use nets that have a huge mesh.The people on the Eastern Shore and NC eat them.I heard the meat has a Pork Chop texture but is pretty good smoked.

I think I saw in the SWS mag that there was a 97lber caught in the Deleware Bay. Thats a monster!

The way i look at it,you're doing the old guy a favor,placed in ice,his metabolism slows down and they die a peacefull death.At that age the poor fella must suffer from cardiovascular symptoms,along with cancer growth,and liver spots.just when eaten,make sure you don't touch the liverYUCK! As far as old meat tasting good,I just finished a very large tog,wich I must say tasted excelent.Now i know for a fact ole honeyhole speaks from years of black drum dining,and could teach us all a thing or 2 on the culinary art of preparing a blackie fot the table.maybe he'll share a few of his skills with us.

yeah but i still cant get over the worms

I do not think the old ones have any problem with their cardio.

the 60 to 70ber we got today,required 10 minutes of CPR before we got him under way,much longer and he was lunch..Although i did admire his spunk before giving up for such an old fella.and i think he was wearing a pacemaker to boot!!!

Black Drum is a bit tougher than "normal" fish. Although most of the time I eat it cut into nuggets and deep fried, I also do the following:

Marinated Teriaki Drum Kabobs... GOOD STUFF!

Drum Parmisean: Lightly fry pieces of drum (you can split filleted pieces to make'em a little thinner) and place in a baking dish. Cover w/diced tomatoes, chopped green onions, mushrooms and grated parmisean cheese... then bake until brown.

BBQ Drum Ribs (also works for fillets/cubes): The rib cage on a drum is HUGE... and good to eat. Skin BOTH sides and put on the grill w/your favotie BBQ sauce. Good eats for sure. (shown to me by Don - OLD SCHOOL).

The bones or rocks in the fish that you refer to are called otholiths. A friend's son had caught one and I retireved the rocks out of it. The fish weighed 86.5 lbs. Another friend at ODU, sliced the rock and took a look at the cross section to see how old the fish was and it was 47 years old. Apparently they grow pretty slow in the later years. The whole process was very interesting.

The veterinarian couldn't resist replying:

Otoliths ("earstones") are small, white structures found in the head of all fishes other than sharks, rays and lampreys. Otoliths provide a sense of balance to fish in much the same way that the inner ear provides balance in humans. Fish otoliths also aid in hearing.


To the fisheries biologist, the otolith is one of the most important tools for understanding the life of fish and fish populations. Growth rings (annuli) not unlike those of a tree record the age and growth of a fish from the date of hatch to the time of death. Daily growth rings formed in the first year of life, and visible only through a microscope, record daily age and growth patterns in surprising detail. And sophisticated chemical techniques allow the reconstruction of everything from the year of hatch, to migration pathways, to the temperature of the water. Indeed, virtually the entire lifetime of the fish is recorded in the otolith. For that reason, otoliths are used and studied in almost every fisheries laboratory in the world. They also make ideal class or science projects, suitable for both high school and supervised elementary school students.

Thanks to everyone who replied. I have a much better understanding of their life history now. I'm a high school biology and earth science teacher and I can surely make a lesson out of this. I'll start collecting otoliths from any large fish we catch this year. I also run a fishing club for the kids at school and I'm always looking for something to do with them when its freezing outside.

Lenny

Learn something new everyday