Description:
Members of the Drum family, silver perch grow to 1 foot in length.  They are elongate and moderately compressed.  Body color is typically silver, somewhat darker dorsally in shades of olive or grayish.  There are also faint stripes that lie parallel to the latral line along the scale rows.  Color fades along the sides and is a silvery white ventrally.  Fins are shaded yellow.  The preopercule is serrated.  Silver perch lack the chin barbels and large front teeth that are common in other drum species;  however, they possess 5 -6 chin pores.    

Habitat:
Silver perch inhabit coastal and estuarine waters with sandy or muddy bottoms.  They move into estuaries during summer months to for feeding and reproduction, and their young utilize seagrasses for cover.  They are known to occasionally enter freshwater.   

Range:
Silver perch range from New York south along the Atlantic coast to northern Mexico, including the eastern and northern Gulf of Mexico.