drum the name given to certain fish of the family Sciaenidae which are notable for the noise they can make; cf. the similar name croaker, applied in the same family. The noise is produced by a snapping of the muscles attached to the air bladder, which acts as a resonance chamber. A curious fact is that certain other fish in the family (e.g. of the genus Menticirrhus, see kingfish) which lack an air bladder and cannot therefore ‘drum’, are still subject to the family impulse to make a noise, which they do by grinding their teeth.
