Thread: Interesting Discovery for Gulf Specks

Speckled Seatrout, a member of the Drum family, and locally called Specks or Spotted Weakfish, are certainly a species of random character and elusive practices. These species are esteemed among veteran anglers as a more subtle and intelligent member of the Icthyo kingdom. We are learning more about them as each year progresses, and no matter how many years passes by, I personally feel as though each year brings about new learning experiences.

Just when we think we have them figured out, we learn we were far from it.

One interesting discovery I made about Specks in the Perdido Pass in Orange Beach's Alabama Point was on the Otoliths of a couple of recent catches.

Otoliths are the locally named "ear stones" found inside the cranium cavity in the fish's head. All fish have these calcium carbonate stones with the exception of sharks, rays and lampreys. They help the fish with balance, navaigation and sensativity, but they help us understand the age, cycles and life of a fish. There are a few types of Otoliths on a fish, sagittae (singular sagitta), asterisci (singular asteriscus), and lapilli (singular lapillus). Typically, sagitta and lapilli are used in age determination.

One observation I made with recent catches is that they did not match those of stones I have collected and studied before.

These four stones pictured below are from a 5lb (male) and 7lb (female) pair of Specks caught from Alabama Point at about 3am in the morning on a failling tide.



What makes these stones different is the sizes and colorations of the bands. How it works under the microscope, you have bands similar to the rings on a tree as each annual season passes. You have white rings which represent the summer months of growth, and darker bands which represent the winter months--each set of white and dark banks represents 1 year total.

Both of the fish are 6 years old, and have normal bands for the first three years of life. Normal is considered to be large white bands (representing growth spurts in the summer when food is abundant), and very tiny dark bands (showing slow growth in the winter). The interesting fact takes place in the 4th year once the Speckled Seatrout reaches sexual maturity.

On the fourth year, the line patterns take a drastic change--one which I have not seen before. Immediately, the white and dark band become the same size virtually, with the 5th year becoming completely opposite--small white band and large dark band. By the 6th year, the pattern is extremely lopsided.

What this indicates is that Speckled Trout are living up to their heightened intelligence by outsmarting mother nature's vices once again.

Basically, the Specks have figured out that once they've reached sexual maturity, they are spending their summer months spawning and ensuring their future populations are secure--they are simply not in a feeding frenzy. The growth rate just shows this pattern all too well. However, during the winter, the dark bands are showing exponential growth rates--showing that they are storing ample amounts of fat to withstand the summer spawning months.

There are a few advantages for this pattern. By not feasting heavily in the summer the Specks are avoiding competition and predators, and they are more focused on repopulating. By feasting in the winter time, there is much less competition for food, almost no predators, and they can just pack on the weight without worrying about spawning.

These creatures are certainly not mindless, and they are adapting as each year passes by.

I am assuming this is also why we see larger Specks caught during the winter time and they are more prone to chew the artificials.

I will be catching and studying more as the months progress, and am looking forward to the findings.

VERY interesting post, VG! Really enjoyed reading this, and it makes a lot of sense!

Pier#r is going to love this thread. It seems right up his alley.

[quote author=Pier#r link=topic=397.msg3460#msg3460 date=1324502642]

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You sure got my wife laughing hard on that one, #er.

She constantly tells me I remind her of Spock, and I adamantly disagree with her.

Now, your pic has convinced her she won the arguement.

Sad, sad day on the home front. :cry: :angry: :'(

Merci beaucoup for the theories. I like most of those "sciaenidae members" myself.

Hah! The argument is back on. I told her you were referring to the specks being spock-like creatures. Win.

Good post. Thanks.

Interesting hypothesis, but flawed. This statement made me question the validity of your assumptions,

What this indicates is that Speckled Trout are living up to their heightened intelligence by outsmarting mother nature's vices once again.

Basically, the Specks have figured out that once they've reached sexual maturity, they are spending their summer months spawning and ensuring their future populations are secure--they are simply not in a feeding frenzy.

I will agree that large trout a wary fish, but the words intelligence and figured out don't belong when referring to cold blooded animals. If you were to make the same statement about a warm blooded animal other than a human, then I could see that to an extent. However, I don't think that even the most intelligent mammals or birds could hold a candle to humans in regard to our ability to reason and figure things out.

First allow me to say that I believe that both pairs of "ear stones" were from female fish. I'm not buying into the notion that there are any 5#, 6 year old trout in existence.

Originally Posted by Jerald Horst, Associate Professor, Fisheries - LSU AgCenter

@ this place:http://www.rodnreel.com/gulffish/gul...&FishID=77Male trout grow slower and don't live as long as females. Males don't reach 14 inches long until 3 or 4 years old. Few males live over 5, so virtually all spotted seatrout 5 pounds and larger are females.

This is not to say that don't exist, I just find it difficult to believe after looking at information concerning growth rates of trout as related to sex and age. Here is an example I found that showed the most extreme case of male growth from this place:http://www.txsaltwaterfishingguides....acts/Trout.htm
AGE MALE FEMALE
1 9" 8"
2 14" 17"
3 17" 20"
4 18" 23"
5 18" 24"
6 19" 25"
7 19" 26"
You would have to display some serious evidence and/or explain to me your qualifications and experience to convince me that these aren't both females.

I think it all comes down to spawning as you stated, but not to the extent of Momma Sow trout telling herself "I've got to hide from my predators and I will only eat enough to survive since that pogey might have a hook in its pocket, cuz I've got millions of kids to spawn". Fish eat more in the summer since they are cold blooded creatures. As water temperatures increase, so does their metabolism. As metabolism increases, so does their intake of groceries. Spawning takes an enormous amount of energy, just as it does for almost all, if not all, forms of reproduction in advanced living creatures. It appears to indicate from your observations and the growth chart above, that once a fish reaches its prime reproductive age the majority of its intake is shifted from growth to reproducing and most of its addition grow, though limited, occurs in the winter despite decrease consumption of food.

The fact that larger trout tend to be easier to catch in the winter is more a function of where the fish are, which too is temperature related. Trout tend to congregate in warmer and shallower waters in cold weather, which are the waters which are more accessible to anglers. It shouldn't take much of an explanation to convince anyone that more fish in a smaller area that is easier to reach equals more fish caught than fewer fish in a much larger area that is difficult or impossible to reach.

I have found that the internet has a wide varity of information.
One can not go on one specific site to gather information.
That is why it is called research.

Here is a link that shows both statements can be right or wrong.
It all depends in the area of which the fish are caught.

http://www.blueocean.org/seafood/sea...iew?spc_id=295

This site gives a lot more indepth detail on speckled trout.
You will be amazed once you read it
Mainly the Life History and the Abundance.


Speckled Trout



Cynoscion nebulosus
Sometimes known as spotted seatrout, spotted weakfish, spotted squeteague, spotted trout, speckles, speckled trout, salmon trout, simon trout

This Species is Wild Caught

Summary

Speckled Trout grow fast, reach sexual maturity after their first year, and spawn millions of eggs over several months, all of which are favorable life history characteristics. Contrary to the name, Speckled Trout are not a trout species, instead being related to drums. Speckled Trout are mostly caught in the Gulf of Mexico, where most populations have medium abundance levels. Speckled Trout are predominantly found in estuaries and seagrass habitats, which are areas in the Gulf of Mexico that are degraded from pollution, dredging and channeling. The main fishing method of hook and line gear, however, causes little damage to the seafloor and likely results in low levels of bycatch.

Just some more info....