Spotted Seatrout

Scientific Name: Cynoscion nebulosus Family: Sciaenidae Common Names: Spotted Seatrout, Speckled Trout

The Spotted Seatrout has a long, slender body with a dark bluish-silvery-gray back and silvery sides. Its body is marked by round, black spots on the back, upper sides, and extending into the second dorsal fin and the caudal fin. The upper jaw has two large, curved, canine-like teeth.

Weakfish or Gray Trout and Silver Trout. Spotted Seatrout can be distinguished from these two species by the circular specks or spots on its body, dorsal fin, and caudal fin.

With a range limited to the western Atlantic Ocean, the Spotted Seatrout is found from Cape Cod, Massachusetts to southern Florida, and throughout the Gulf of Mexico. Spotted Seatrout tagged by the NCDMF have been recaptured as far north as Calver Beach-Long Beach, MD, in the Chesapeake Bay, and as far south as Murrells , SC.

Spotted Seatrout are medium-sized fish commonly occurring from 15 to 25 inches in length and 2 to 4 pounds with lengths approaching 40 inches. North Carolina’s state record is a 12 lb 8 oz fish caught in the Lower Neuse River in 2022. The world record is 17 lbs 7 ounces out of Ft. Pierce, Florida in 1995.

Spotted Seatrout mature between the ages of one and three and can live as long as 10 years.

As with many estuarine and marine fishes in North Carolina, Spotted Seatrout have distinct seasonal movements. During the winter, Seatrout migrate to relatively shallow habitats of upper estuaries. As the waters warm in the summer, Seatrout return to oyster beds and shallow bays or flats. Movement rates and distance traveled are greatest in spring and fall.

Although there are distinct seasonal movements, migrating north in the spring and south in the fall, Spotted Seatrout are considered resident species with individuals usually traveling less than 20 miles. Spotted Seatrout tagged through NCDMF have been recaptured from 0 to 271 miles from their release site, with an average of 29 miles. Spawning occurs several times during a single season from late April to early October in the deep parts of bays and adjacent grass beds. The fish can spawn, develop, and spend its entire life in the estuarine environment.

Spotted Seatrout use habitats throughout estuaries and occasionally the coastal ocean during different parts of their life history.

Spotted Seatrout are found in most habitats identified by the  North Carolina Coastal Habitat Protection Plan (CHPP) .

Each habitat is part of a larger habitat mosaic, which plays a vital role in the overall productivity and health of the coastal ecosystem. Additionally, these habitats function to provide the appropriate physicochemical and biological conditions necessary to maintain and enhance the Spotted Seatrout population during different stages of life.

Spotted Seatrout spawning is generally limited to the waters near inlets and within the confines of the estuary in the late summer and early fall. Spotted seatrout like seagrass habitat during spawning, but spawning aggregations have also been found over shell bottom habitat.

Juvenile Spotted Seatrout use estuarine wetlands or marsh as nurseries. In North Carolina, juvenile Spotted Seatrout have been found to be abundant in tidal marshes and marsh creeks in eastern and western Pamlico, Bogue, and Core Sound.

Of the available habitats, SAV is of critical importance to all life history stages of Spotted Seatrout.  In North Carolina, SAV is used extensively by Spotted Seatrout as important nurseries and foraging grounds. Protection of each of these habitat types is therefore critical to the sustainability of the Spotted Seatrout stock. 

 North Carolina Coastal Habitat Protection Plan (CHPP) 

The 2022 benchmark stock assessment indicated the spotted seatrout stock in North Carolina and Virginia was not overfished, however, overfishing was occurring in the terminal year (2019). Additionally, recreational and commercial landings in 2020 and 2021 remained above average. The scheduled fishery management plan review is underway, and management will need to address the overfishing status. For more information, contact Lucas Pensinger at lucas.pensinger@ncdenr.gov.

 Click here to view management info about this species 

A cold stun is when the environment becomes so cold that aquatic wildlife in the area are physically affected and become lethargic or appear “stunned.” In North Carolina, these periodic events are triggered either by:

• quick and sudden drops in water temperatures associated with strong cold fronts and/or snow and ice run-off. OR
• prolonged periods of cold air temperatures which gradually drop water temperatures below a point that fish cannot withstand.

When water temperatures drop to a point that fish become stunned, it is often fatal. In controlled temperature experiments, fish have recovered after being stunned if they are immediately placed in warmer water; however, in nature, these conditions are rarely encountered and most fish seen floating ‘belly-up’ or stunned typically do not survive.

The extent of the cold stun on populations of fish depends on cumulative impacts across the range of the stock. The impact can be minimal if only sub-adults are stunned, if it is localized to a few areas, or if the event is short lived. It may be substantial with a greater number killed when all size classes are affected or many areas are involved for an extended duration.

Mortality due to cold stuns is recognized in the Spotted Seatrout Fishery Management Plan as a factor contributing to the abundance of Spotted Seatrout in North Carolina. Trout of all sizes overwinter in the coastal bays and rivers and are often the first and most wide spread fish to be observed in a cold stun. These fish typically find refuge from cold water temperatures in deep water holes and sloughs in coastal creeks and rivers. When water temperatures suddenly drop due to low air temperatures or cold-water run-off, these fish become trapped and succumb to the freezing temperatures.

Larger adults may have better tolerance to low temperatures than smaller fish. Typically, by the time water temperatures in the deeper water drops to lethal limits, these larger fish have too far to swim to reach warmer water and are stunned as well. Population abundance of the species can be affected the following year and subsequent years due to the loss of these breeding adults.

The  Spotted Seatrout Fishery Management Plan   calls for the mitigation of this decline by eliminating fishing harvest after a stun occurs to ensure that surviving adults have a chance to spawn the following spring.