reach sexual maturity at four years, whereas females reach maturity at five or six years. Females from six to nine years old have a clutch size of 34,000 to 66,500 eggs and they spawn in open water giving no parental care to their larvae. The eggs then float to the top of the water column and hatch between two and four days. Due to the broadcasting of eggs in open water and lack of parental care, many eggs and larvae fall victim to predation upon hatching, the pro-larvae average long. The post-larval stage begins about 45 hours after hatching and a length of is attained. Females grow at a faster rate than the males and adult characteristics start to form at a length of . Females continue to outgrow the male throughout their lives reaching a length of . Usually the freshwater drum weighs , but they can reach well over . Freshwater drums are long-lived and have attained maximum ages of 72 years old in Red Lakes, Minnesota and 32 years old in the Cahaba River, Alabama. Though they can reach very old age, the average age of a freshwater drum is between 6 and 13 years. In some cases, otoliths provide such a long record of growth that they can be studied using the same techniques as those used by dendochronologists. Current management There are few management practices for the species, and in many regions daily bag limits are unlimited. The freshwater drum is not federally or state listed by any states. Although the commercial harvest is up to 1 million pounds per year, they are in no danger of overharvest. In the Mississippi River alone, the commercial catch has reached about in recent years. Due to its abundance, many states allow bowfishing and other non-conventional means to harvest the fish. See also Lucky stone References Sciaenidae Fish of the Great Lakes Monotypic fish genera Fish described in 1819 Freshwater fish of North America Taxa named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque