Adult spotted drum are pretty easy to find here in Bonaire. Their black and white stripes and spots create a striking image as they swim back and forth in reef recesses. Over the years, we have found quite a few early juvenile spotted drum, swimming back and forth, in smaller spaces, just as the adults do.
This year, I've been looking, but only encountered my first early juvenile today. The juveniles are incredibly elegant looking with a really long first dorsal fin. As they grow, this fin becomes less pronounced -- they grow into it. The juveniles also lack the spots that give the species its name.
The adult pictured below is about 7 inches long, the juvenile in the photos is a little over an inch long. The photos were taken a depths of 35 to 50 feet.
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| Adult |
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| Juvenile, swimming to the left |
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| Close-up of juvenile, swimming to the right |
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