Species: Lutjanus campechanus, Northern Red Snapper, Red Snapper

Lutjanus campechanus (Poey, 1860)

Red Snapper, Northern Red Snapper

Body relatively deep, compressed; front and rear nostrils simple holes; mouth relatively large, top jaw moderately protrusible, slips under cheek bone for most of its length when mouth is closed; one or more rows of pointed conical teeth on jaws, some as canines; an anchor shaped patch of teeth with a rear extension on center of roof of mouth; sides of roof of mouth with 1 pair of tooth patches; 6-8 + 14-16 gill rakers; preopercle serrated, lower margin weakly notched; dorsal continuous, often with slight notch behind spiny part, usually X, 14, (rarely 13 or 15); anal III, 9 (rarely 8), fin tip bluntly pointed in fish >5 cm SL; tail edge slightly concave; body, cheek and operculum scaly; snout, below eye and both jaws scale-less; lateral line scales 47-48 (46-51); scales above lateral line 8-9 (7-10), 16-17 (15-19) below lateral line; lateral scales 47-49 (46-50); membranes of soft dorsal and anal fins scaly.

Back and upper sides scarlet to brick red, pink in shallow water; sides and belly rosy; iris red; fins mostly red, with dark edges. Juvenile: fish < ~30 cm with a dark spot below front part of soft dorsal fin.

Reaches 100 cm; 22.8 kg.

Juveniles on sand and mud bottoms, adults on rocky bottoms.

Depth range: 10-190 m, adults usually 30-130 m.

Massachusetts to the Gulf of Mexico; the Bahamas; possibly to Brazil.

Note: The taxonomic status of L. purpureus is not fully clarified, and it may be a synonym of L. campechanus.