# Red/Black Drum Hybrid?



## StevenPituch (Jan 1, 2011)

Hi All,
A friend sent me this photo. He thinks it may be a hybrid Red/Black Drum. Since he was "on the job", he feels that it would be prudent for him not to give all the details, but he is very curious what experienced fisherman consider this fish to be. He feels that it has physical characteristics of both a redfish and a black drum.

I did some research and apparently an experiment in Texas was done in 1983 crossing these two to produce a new sport fish. But I haven't heard of anyone catching one in the wild.

I believe that this one was caught 1/10/2011. It was 36 lbs and I will say that it was on the Gulf coast. I have cropped out his head and also his cap so as to not identify his employer.

Thanks,
Steve Pituch


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## Back Bay boy (Apr 7, 2010)

looks like just a big old ugly drum to me. I like to catch em. I never heard of a cross but thats just me.


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## StevenPituch (Jan 1, 2011)

Old red drum then.....
Here's an article I found.

Texas Biologists Cross
Redfish and Black Drum

Biologists at the Texas Parks and
Wildlife Department's Marine Fisheries
Research Station in Palacios have successfully
produced a hybrid cross between
the red drum (redfish) and black
drum. They hope the hybrid will prove
to be a hardy, fast-growing sport fish.
About 500,000 fertilized eggs were
produced by a female black drum and a
male redfish earlier in 1983. The resulting
fry were placed in ponds until they
reached about )1/2 inches in length, and
then were stocked experimentally in
Lake Creek Reservoir near Waco. Nick
Carter, inland fisheries research coordinator
in Austin, said although subsequent
netting surveys failed to retrieve
any of the hybrids, he believes the fish
may have gone into deep water areas out
of the reach of nets. "We are fairly optimistic
about the hybrid drum because
they are easy to produce and appear to
have high egg fertilization and survival
rates," Carter noted. "The fish we
stocked in Lake Creek appeared to be in
excellent shape."
Carter said the hybrid more closely
resembles the popular redfish in appearance,
but it is deeper-bodied like the
black drum. It is mottled black and silver
in color, lacks the characteristic black
tail spot seen on redfish, and also has lost
the black vertical bars of the black drum.
There are several reasons for optimism
about the future of hybrid drum
as a freshwater sport fish. Stocking of
saltwater redfish already has proven successful
in certain reservoirs where the
water chemistry is favorable. Also, hybrid
crosses of striped and white bass
have shown their worth as sport fish in
scores of Texas lakes. "There is much
yet to be learned about the hybrid drum,
since it is a new fish," Carter said.
"However, if they survive and grow as
well as we think they can, they have
excellent sport fish potential."
Marine Fisheries Review


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## Miles2Fish (Dec 2, 2008)

That looks like the regular old black drum to me......AKA Big Ugly!


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## StevenPituch (Jan 1, 2011)

OK, but it has gold at the top, no vertical stripes and a couple of spots. Do old black drums have these traits? That's what originally brought up the question.


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## Brian Castille (May 27, 2004)

When we fish for black drum in the spring, we catch a lot of golden ones. The larger ones (regardless of color) don't have vertical stripes and occasionally have a random spot or two. I am not an expert but have heard that water conditions dictate the coloration of the fish. Some days 90% of fish are golden and other days 90% are ugly black. I have even gotten in arguments with other boats nearby that try and tag a 35" golden drum thinking it is a red drum. I may or may not have called game thief on them too  

I would call your friend's drum just another ugly black drum, lol.

Here's a few pics of black drum with a golden hue that we caught this year:


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## topherLIVE (Aug 31, 2010)

if it's got those barbels under its chin, it's a black drum.


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## southtxhunter (Feb 1, 2005)

Dang that fish has seen better days. Nice catch either way


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## aggiemulletboy (May 31, 2006)

Typical large black drum. They lose the stripes as they get older. Doesn't appear to have any morphological characteristics that would point to a hybrid.


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## StevenPituch (Jan 1, 2011)

Everyone,
Thank you all very much for the information. I am going to relay the info to my friend. It looks like the shape of the fish and the barbels are the important characteristics which make it a black drum.


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## 007 (Mar 11, 2008)

StevenPituch said:


> Everyone,
> Thank you all very much for the information. I am going to relay the info to my friend. It looks like the shape of the fish and the barbels are the important characteristics which make it a black drum.


Make sure that he knows that it was still a "Great Catch" on light tackle!


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## dwilliams35 (Oct 8, 2006)

He's seen better days...


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## StevenPituch (Jan 1, 2011)

007 said:


> Make sure that he knows that it was still a "Great Catch" on light tackle!


Yes, but he is a marine biologist and unfortunately for him this one was caught in a gill net (for research). For some reason his superiors were not that concerned with the full ID of this fish, but he wanted to know himself. The fine details of what was discussed here is not what they teach in college.

He gets little opportunity to actually fish for fun since he is on the water working sometimes 10 hours per day, but is trying hard to find a buddy with a boat for some Sunday pleasure-fishing.

Thanks again. I will suggest to him that he join 2coolfishing. I think that he will enjoy the camaraderie.


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## 007 (Mar 11, 2008)

StevenPituch said:


> Yes, but he is a marine biologist and unfortunately for him this one was caught in a gill net (for research). For some reason his superiors were not that concerned with the full ID of this fish, but he wanted to know himself. The fine details of what was discussed here is not what they teach in college.
> 
> He gets little opportunity to actually fish for fun since he is on the water working sometimes 10 hours per day, but is trying hard to find a buddy with a boat for some Sunday pleasure-fishing.
> 
> Thanks again. I will suggest to him that he join 2coolfishing. I think that he will enjoy the camaraderie.


He probably already knows AMB.


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## spike404 (Sep 13, 2010)

Whenever I see a thread about drum, I am always reminded of a store/shop/cafe (?) that was on MLK in Houston, at least 30 years ago. I used to drive by frequently, due to my job.

If I remember correctly it was called, "You Catchem, We Fryem". Their business was that if you catch fish, you could bring them in, and they would fry them up. They had cartoons of fish drawn in the windows, and one of them was of a drum with the caption, "I'm the drum, I'm as tasty as they come".

Darn it, the older I get, the worse my short-term memory becomes. But, my long-term memory is absolutely amazing!


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## Redfishr (Jul 26, 2004)

I did catch a hybrid back in the early 80's in the pass as San Luis.
He looked like a drum with the big hump back but had no barbles and his pectoral fins were rounded like a reds on the end instead of long and coming to a point as in the Black drum.......He was about 20 plus pounds and I released him with no pics..............But thats a drum you have...


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## StevenPituch (Jan 1, 2011)

Hi All,
I did get more info.

When this "drum" was gill netted they also caught 5 or 6 other black drum about the same size. They had deeper bodies and the traditional black stripes. So if it was seasonal conditions that make the color change, it only affected the one fish in question and not the other normal black drums. That's what made my friend curious about this specimen. This was taken in a bay area open to the Gulf so it is possible that the fish in question may have migrated from an area different from the normal drums.

Thanks everyone.

Brian, those drum you caught were beautiful.


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## wildbill (Aug 11, 2005)

Not to hijack this thread, but what do some of y'all think about this fish...


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## Jolly Roger (May 21, 2004)

wildbill said:


> Not to hijack this thread, but what do some of y'all think about this fish...


black drum


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## tank8677 (Apr 20, 2010)

def. a black drum aka big ugly.


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## topherLIVE (Aug 31, 2010)

the pectoral fins on a black drum are also much bigger (proportionally) than that of a redfish.


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