The croakers and drums characteristically produce a drumming sound by vibrating their swim bladders with special muscles.
Croakers are luminescent and appear pink when first removed from the water.
A croaker's tail is slightly pointed, and it has faint stripes across its back and small chin barbels. The Atlantic croaker can be found along the coast from Cape Cod, Massachusetts to Campeche Bank, Mexico. It is one of the most abundant inshore fish species, especially in the southeastern Atlantic and northern Gulf of Mexico, although in recent years it is not as plentiful or widely distributed as its close cousin, the spot. Some scientists speculate that very cold weather kills juveniles that enter the Bay in the fall and winter, but the cause could also reflect increasing numbers of their predators, including bluefish and striped bass. Adult croaker generally spend the spring and summer in estuaries and move offshore and south along the Atlantic coast in the fall.