Species: Etelis oculatus, Queen Snapper

Etelis oculatus (Valenciennes in Cuvier & Valenciennes, 1828)

Queen Snapper

Elongate, fusiform; space between eyes flattened; top jaw moderately protrusible, slips under cheek bone for most of its length when mouth is closed; jaw teeth small, conical, frequently 1-2 pairs of canines at front; front and sides of roof of mouth with small conical teeth; tooth patch on roof of mouth V shaped, rarely almost triangular;16-18 lower gill rakers; dorsal fin X, 11 (rarely 10), deeply notched between spines and rays; anal fin III, 8; last dorsal and anal fin rays longer than rays before them; pectorals long and pointed, slightly <head, 15-17 rays; tail deeply forked; scales medium sized, 47-53 on lateral line; body, cheek and operculum scaly; snout, below eye and lower jaw scale-less; top jaw scaled; dorsal and anal fins scaleless.

Upper head and body red to deep pink, paler pink below; fins pink except spiny dorsal; tail fin red.

Reaches 95 cm.

On rocky bottoms at 100-533 m.

N Carolina to Brazil.

Note: closely related to E coruscans from the Indo-Pacific, which evidently colonized the Atlantic quite recently.