To estimate the growth rate of the Atlantic croaker 113,670 juveniles were marked and released between 23 January and 23 March 1975. The experiment was divided into five tests; in each, the fish were marked with a different fluorescent pigment. Recapture efforts produced 110 usable returns. Individual croakers appear to have had an average maximum stay of 1.8 months in the nursery. Growth rate was estimated by the regression of length of recaptured juveniles on time; estimates ranged from 0.51 to 0.99 mm/day, all of which were considerably higher than most estimates in the literature. There was a trend of increasing growth rate through the five tests. Length frequencies of 159,381 croakers taken in a trap at the study area outlet could not be interpreted in a reliable manner for growth rate estimates. Future attempts to estimate young-of-the-year croaker growth rates should use methods other than length frequency.