Marine - Species - Atlantic Croaker

Abundance of Species

The abundance of croaker in South Carolina has been variable, which is typical of short-lived species where population size is strongly influenced by recruitment success. Abundance has generally increased over the last five years and is currently above the 10-year average. Data presented here are derived from the DNR trammel net survey.

Additional Graph Information

Graphs of abundance show relative annual abundance in South Carolina waters based on surveys conducted by the SC Department of Natural Resources.

Abundance is presented relative to the average of the 10 most recent years. Unlike graphs of the recreational and commercial fisheries catch, the abundance graphs use survey data that have been standardized to allow direct comparison among years.

The horizontal dotted lines above or below the "10 year average" represent one "standard deviation" unit, which is a measure of how variable the annual data are around the 10-year average. In general, the area between one standard deviation above the mean and one standard deviation below the average includes approximately 68% of the values. Approximately 95% percent of observations in the data set are found within two standard deviations of the average.