snapper

snapper, name for members of the Lutianidae, a family of spiny-finned food and game fishes found chiefly in tropical coastal waters. Snappers are carnivorous, active, and voracious, with large mouths and sharp teeth. Most species travel in dense schools. Best known is the red snapper, an important food fish. It is abundant in the Gulf of Mexico and also frequents the Atlantic Coast north to Long Island. The red snapper grows to 3 ft (90 cm) in length, weighs up to 35 lb (16 kg), and is a deep rose-red in color. Its flesh keeps well and is shipped in quantity to many parts of the United States. Other snappers are the Pensacola and Caribbean red snappers, the mangrove and dog snappers, the muttonfish, and the yellowtail. Snappers are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Osteichthyes, order Charadriiformes, family Scolapacidae.

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snapper

Red spot snapper (Lethrinus variegatus)

(credit: Douglas Faulkner)

Any of about 250 species of valuable food fishes (family Lutjanidae), found throughout the tropics. These active schooling fishes have slender bodies, large mouths, sharp canine teeth, and blunt or forked tails. Many species grow to 2–3 ft (60–90 cm) long. Snappers eat crustaceans and other fishes. Some species, such as the Atlantic dog snapper, contain a toxin. The red snapper, a bright red fish, inhabits deep Atlantic waters. The emperor snapper is a red-and-white Indo-Pacific fish. The Atlantic yellowtail snapper has a broad yellow stripe from the nose to the wholly yellow tail.

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snapper

1. any large sharp-toothed percoid food fish of the family Lutjanidae of warm and tropical coastal regions

2. a sparid food fish, Chrysophrys auratus, of Australia and New Zealand, that has a pinkish body covered with blue spots

3. another name for the bluefish or the snapping turtle