Sand seatrout (Cynoscion arenarius) is a saltwater, brackish species recorded in the United States. It is mainly found over sand, estuary, at depths of 0–177 m.
Scientific name: Cynoscion arenarius · Water: Saltwater, Brackish
Size: up to 63.5 cm
The sand seatrout (Cynoscion arenarius) is a sciaenid of the western Atlantic, first described in 1930 by Isaac Ginsburg from Galveston, Texas, and closely related to — possibly even a spotless subspecies of — the common weakfish, with which it hybridises in Florida along with the silver seatrout. It is an elongated, silvery-grey fish with a dark pectoral axil, two large canines at the front of the upper jaw and indistinct spots on the caudal and soft dorsal fins, reaching a maximum total length of 63.5 cm and 2.8 kg though 35 cm is more typical. It is found from Florida through the Gulf of Mexico to the Bay of Campeche and Belize, living over sandy substrate in shallow coastal water, the surf zone and estuaries down to as deep as 177 m, and it undertakes seasonal migrations, swimming into estuaries in summer to breed and feed and producing a purring sound with its swim bladder at dusk during the spawning season. It is an economically valuable target species for both commercial and recreational fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico, where American anglers catch it from boats and from the shore on shrimp, jigs and soft plastics and know it as the white trout or sand weakfish.
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