Shorefishes of the Eastern Pacific online information system

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Species: Heteropriacanthus cruentatus, Glasseye snapper, the Glasseye

All Families:   All Genera:   All Species:

pink
soft D & A + C: spotted
head profiles symmetric
preopercle - large flat spine, edge scaleless

Heteropriacanthus cruentatus (Lacepède, 1801)

Glasseye snapper, Glasseye

Body oval, strongly compressed; head profiles nearly symmetrical above and below; a large, upturned, oblique mouth with a projecting lower jaw; tip of lower jaw at level of body midline; no spines on the head; rear of preopercle without scales, with fine ridges, with large flat spine at its angle; gill rakers 21-25; fin spines with tiny spines; dorsal fin X, 12-13, spines not increasing in length towards rear of fin; anal fin III, 13-14; pectoral rays 18-19 (usually 18); pelvics relatively short, < head length, broadly fused to belly; tail fin slightly rounded; scales relatively large, 9-12 rows above lateral line, 63-81 pored scales on lateral line.

Usually pink to red, including fins and iris of eye; tail and soft parts of dorsal and anal fins with elliptical dark specks; can also be overall silvery with red and pink blotches or irregular bars, or silvery pink with yellowish fins.

Size: reaches 51 cm.

Inhabits shallow reefs.

Depth: 5-300 m.

Circumglobal in tropical seas; in the eastern Pacific it ranges from  Guadalupe Island to the mouth of the Gulf of California to Ecuador and all the offshore islands, to which it is mainly restricted.


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Salinity
  • Marine
  • Marine Only
Inshore/Offshore
  • Inshore
  • Inshore Only
Water Column Position
  • Bottom
  • Bottom + water column
  • Mid Water
  • Near Bottom
Habitat
  • Water column
  • Rocks
  • Reef only
  • Reef associated (reef + edges-water column & soft bottom)
  • Corals
  • Reef (rock/coral/oyster)
FishBase Habitat
  • Demersal
Feeding Group
  • Carnivore
  • Planktivore
  • Data
Diet
  • Pelagic crustacea
  • Mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs)
  • Octopus/squid/cuttlefish
  • Data
  • Bony fishes
Egg Type
  • Pelagic
  • Pelagic larva
  • No data
Global Endemism
  • All Pacific (West + Central + East)
  • Transisthmian (East Pacific + Atlantic of Central America)
  • All species
  • "Transpacific" (East + Central &/or West Pacific)
  • East Pacific + Atlantic (East +/or West)
  • Circumtropical ( Indian + Pacific + Atlantic Oceans)
  • East Pacific + all Atlantic (East+West)
  • TEP non-endemic
Regional Endemism
  • Eastern Pacific non-endemic
  • Island (s)
  • Continent + Island (s)
  • Continent
  • All species
  • Tropical Eastern Pacific (TEP) non-endemic
Residency
  • Resident
Climate Zone
  • North Temperate (Californian Province &/or Northern Gulf of California)
  • Equatorial (Costa Rica to Ecuador + Galapagos, Clipperton, Cocos, Malpelo)
  • Northern Subtropical (Cortez Province + Sinaloan Gap)
  • Northern Tropical (Mexican Province to Nicaragua + Revillagigedos)
IUCN Red List
  • Not evaluated / Listed
CITES
  • Not listed
Length Max
  • 51
Depth Range Min
  • 5
Depth Range Max
  • 300