Top Red Snapper Description and Facts

Red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus) is the most sought-after snapper species (includes more than 100 species) by bottom- fishing fishermen. A member of the Lutjanidae family of snapper, it is regarded as one of the best reef fish and is always very expensive in the market, wherever you’re in the world.

Distribution

This species is not only common in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic coasts of America, but they can also be found in waters like the Andaman Seas off Thailand and also abundant in waters off Indonesia. They prefer water temperature ranging from 50-70 degrees F.

Habitat

They’re bottom dwellers and the likely places to find them are wrecks, seamounts, oil rig platforms, coral reefs, artificial reefs, ledges and drop-offs. A schooling species they’re often found in school of the same size.

Characteristics

It has a spiny dorsal fin which stretches almost to the tail with a compressed body. The anal fin is sharply pointed with a long triangular snout and a prominent reddish iris. The teeth are small, canine-like with medium-large scales. The tail is half-moon shaped and usually has dark edge.

The red snapper has beautiful color of bright pinkish-red on the back and head, fading to a silvery whitish below. Young fish below 10 inches in length has a black spot on both sides of the body.

Spawn

They spawn from April to October and it takes a fish of about 4 years to reach spawning size of about 16 inches. Small fish can produce as many as 500 eggs while large fish may produce as many as 2.5 millions eggs during each spawn.

Adults are more often found in structures or rocky bottoms at depths of 50-400 ft. Young fish under 10 inches prefer shallow waters over sandy and muddy bottoms.

They can reach length of 3 ft. and weigh more than 35 lbs. The average size caught on fishing gear is 1-2 ft. in length and weigh less than 10 lbs. The all-tackle world record is a 50 lbs. and 4 ozs. monster caught off Louisiana in 1966. They’re able to live to more than 20 years.

Diet

Since they’re bottom-dwellers they feed on what is available on the sea-bottom like crabs, shrimps, snake-eels, worms, squids and mainly small fishes.

Angling Methods

Bottom-fishing and jigging with metal jigs are the most popular angling methods for this popular snapper species. (Click to read more about red snapper fishing.)

Their whitish meat is firm, sweet and mild flavor which is a delicacy enjoyed by many. Due to its popularity and highly prized, overfishing and dwindling stocks, the percentage of getting the real species, either in fine restaurants or from the markets is real low. There’re a lot of frauds, some surveys put it at more than 70-80 %. The best way to avoid it is to go out and fish yourself; you’ll get not only the thrill, but the real red snapper.

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