Snappers are a family of perciform fish, Lutjanidae, mainly marine, but with some members inhabiting estuaries, feeding in freshwater. Some are important food fish. One of the best known is the red snapper.

Snappers inhabit tropical and subtropical regions of all oceans. They can grow to about 1 m (3.3 ft) in length. Most feed on crustaceans or other fish, though a few are plankton-feeders. They can be kept in aquaria, but mostly grow too fast to be popular aquarium fish. They live at depths reaching 450 m (1,480 ft).

About 100 species are currently recognized, divided into about 16 genera. A large number of species have "snapper" in their common names; most but not all are Lutjanidae. Nearly all of the 60 or so species in genus Lutjanus have common names that include the word "snapper".

Five-lined snapper (Lutjanus quinquelineatus), northeast coast of Taiwan

Species [edit]

• Genus Aphareus
  • Small-toothed jobfish, A. furca (Lacépède, 1801)
  • Rusty jobfish, A. rutilans Cuvier, 1830
• Genus Aprion
  • Green jobfish, A. virescens Valenciennes, 1830
• Genus Apsilus
  • Black snapper, A. dentatus Guichenot, 1853
  • African forktail snapper, A. fuscus Valenciennes, 1830
• Genus Etelis
  • Ruby snapper, E. carbunculus Cuvier, 1828
  • Flame snapper, E. coruscans Valenciennes, 1862
  • Queen snapper, E. oculatus (Valenciennes, 1828)
  • Scarlet snapper, E. radiosus Anderson, 1981
• Genus Hoplopagrus
  • Mexican barred snapper, Hoplopagrus guentherii Gill, 1862.
• Genus Lipocheilus
  • Tang's snapper, Lipocheilus carnolabrum (Chan, 1970).
• Genus Lutjanus
  • Yellow-banded snapper, L. adetii (Castelnau, 1873)
  • African red snapper, L. agennes Bleeker, 1863
  • Brazilian snapper, L. alexandrei Moura & Lindeman, 2007.^[1]
  • Ambiguous snapper, L. ambiguus (Poey, 1860)
  • Mutton snapper, L. analis (Cuvier, 1828)
  • Schoolmaster snapper, L. apodus (Walbaum, 1792)
  • Mullet snapper, L. aratus (Günther, 1864).
  • Mangrove red snapper or rock salmon, L. argentimaculatus (Forsskål, 1775)
  • Yellow snapper, L. argentiventris (Peters, 1869)
  • Bengal snapper, L. bengalensis (Bloch, 1790)
  • Two-spot banded snapper, L. biguttatus (Valenciennes, 1830)
  • Indonesian snapper, L. bitaeniatus (Valenciennes, 1830)
  • Two-spot red snapper, L. bohar (Forsskål, 1775)
  • Moluccan snapper, L. boutton (Lacépède, 1802)
  • Blackfin snapper, L. buccanella (Cuvier, 1828)
  • Red snapper, L. campechanus (Poey, 1860)
  • Spanish flag snapper, L. carponotatus (Richardson, 1842)
  • Blueline snapper, L. coeruleolineatus (Rüppell, 1838)
  • Colorado snapper, L. colorado Jordan & Gilbert, 1882
  • Cubera snapper, L. cyanopterus (Cuvier, 1828)
  • Checkered snapper, L. decussatus (Cuvier, 1828)
  • African brown snapper, L. dentatus (Duméril, 1861)
  • Sunbeam snapper, L. dodecacanthoides (Bleeker, 1854)
  • Blackspot snapper, L. ehrenbergii (Peters, 1869)
  • Guinea snapper, L. endecacanthus Bleeker, 1863
  • Crimson snapper, L. erythropterus Bloch, 1790
  • Golden African snapper, L. fulgens (Valenciennes, 1830)
  • Dory snapper, L. fulviflamma (Forsskål, 1775)
  • Blacktail snapper, L. fulvus (Forster, 1801)
  • Freshwater snapper, L. fuscescens (Valenciennes, 1830)
  • Humpback red snapper, L. gibbus (Forsskål, 1775)
  • Papuan black snapper, L. goldiei (Macleay, 1882)
  • Gorean snapper, L. goreensis (Valenciennes, 1830)
  • Mangrove snapper, L. griseus (Linnaeus, 1758)
  • Yellowfin red snapper, L. guilcheri Fourmanoir, 1959
  • Spotted rose snapper, L. guttatus (Steindachner, 1869)
  • Golden snapper, L. inermis (Peters, 1869)
  • Dog snapper, L. jocu (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)
  • John's snapper, L. johnii (Bloch, 1792)
  • Jordan's snapper, L. jordani (Gilbert, 1898)
  • Bluestripe snapper, L. kasmira (Forsskål, 1775)
  • Yellowstreaked snapper, L. lemniscatus (Valenciennes, 1828)
  • Lunartail snapper, L. lunulatus (Park, 1797)
  • Bigeye snapper, L. lutjanus Bloch, 1790
  • Indian snapper, L. madras (Valenciennes, 1831)
  • Mahogany snapper, L. mahogoni (Cuvier, 1828)
  • Malabar blood snapper, L. malabaricus (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)
  • Pygmy snapper, L. maxweberi (Popta, 1921)
  • Samoan snapper, L. mizenkoi Allen & Talbot, 1985
  • Onespot snapper, L. monostigma (Cuvier, 1828)
  • Bluestriped snapper, L. notatus (Cuvier, 1828)
  • Pacific cubera snapper, L. novemfasciatus Gill, 1862
  • Spotstripe snapper, L. ophuysenii (Bleeker, 1860)
  • Pacific red snapper, L. peru (Nichols & Murphy, 1922)
  • Southern red snapper, L. purpureus Poey, 1876
  • Five-lined snapper, L. quinquelineatus (Bloch, 1790).
  • Blubberlip snapper, L. rivulatus (Cuvier, 1828)
  • Yellow-lined snapper, L. rufolineatus (Valenciennes, 1830)
  • Russell's snapper, L. russellii (Bleeker, 1849)
  • Humphead snapper, L. sanguineus (Cuvier, 1828)
  • Emperor red snapper, L. sebae (Cuvier, 1816)
  • Black-banded snapper, L. semicinctus Quoy & Gaimard, 1824
  • Star snapper, L. stellatus Akazaki, 1983
  • Lane snapper, L. synagris (Linnaeus, 1758)
  • Timor snapper, timorensis (Quoy & Gaimard, 1824)
  • Blue and gold snapper, L. viridis (Valenciennes, 1846)
  • Brownstripe red snapper, L. vitta (Quoy & Gaimard, 1824)
  • Silk snapper, L. vivanus (Cuvier, 1828)
• Genus Macolor
  • Midnight snapper, M. macularis Fowler, 1931
  • Black and white snapper, M. Niger (Forsskål, 1775)
• Genus Ocyurus
  • Yellowtail snapper, O. chrysurus (Bloch, 1791)
• Genus Paracaesio
  • Japanese snapper, P. caerulea (Katayama, 1934)
  • Vanuatu snapper, P. gonzalesi Fourmanoir & Rivaton, 1979
  • Saddle-back snapper, P. kusakarii Abe, 1960
  • Paracaesio paragrapsimodon Anderson & Kailola, 1992.
  • Dirty ordure snapper, P. sordida Abe & Shinohara, 1962
  • Cocoa snapper, P. stonei Raj & Seeto, 1983
  • Paracaesio waltervadi Anderson & Collette, 1992
  • Yellowtail blue snapper, P. xanthura (Bleeker, 1869)
• Genus Parapristipomoides
  • Scalemouth jobfish, P. squamimaxillaris (Kami, 1973)
• Genus Pinjalo
  • Slender pinjalo, P. lewisi Randall, Allen & Anderson, 1987
  • Pinjalo, P. pinjalo (Bleeker, 1850)
• Genus Pristipomoides
  • Wenchman, P. aquilonaris (Goode & Bean, 1896)
  • Ornate jobfish, P. argyrogrammicus (Valenciennes, 1832)
  • Goldflag jobfish, P. auricilla (Jordan, Evermann & Tanaka, 1927)
  • Crimson jobfish, P. filamentosus (Valenciennes, 1830)
  • Golden eye jobfish, P. flavipinnis Shinohara, 1963.
  • Slender wenchman, P. freemani Anderson, 1966
  • Cardinal snapper, P. macrophthalmus (Müller & Troschel, 1848)
  • Goldbanded jobfish, P. multidens (Day, 1871)
  • Lavender jobfish, P. sieboldii (Bleeker, 1854)
  • Sharptooth jobfish, P. typus Bleeker, 1852
  • Oblique-banded snapper, P. zonatus (Valenciennes, 1830)
• Genus Randallichthys
  • Randall's snapper, R. filamentosus (Fourmanoir, 1970)
• Genus Rhomboplites
  • Vermilion snapper, R. aurorubens (Cuvier, 1829)
• Genus Symphorichthys
  • Sailfin snapper, S. spilurus (Günther, 1874)
• Genus Symphorus
  • Chinamanfish, S. nematophorus (Bleeker, 1860)

Notes [edit]

References [edit]

• Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2006). "Lutjanidae" in FishBase. January 2006 version.
• Paulin, Chris D (1990) "Pagrus auratus, a new combination for the species known as "snapper" in Australasian waters (Pisces: Sparidae)" New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 24: 259–265.