Thread: Red Snapper

Travis, it's definitely not a mutton. Not a bad guess, the shape and overall coloration are almost identical. If it had a single dark spot on its side it would have been.

I disagree. The elongated pectoral fin and pointed anal fin are characteristics of red snapper. Mangroves have rounded anal fins, and shorter pectoral fins. Here is a clearer picture.

Screenshot_20171219-212727.jpg

When i google Google red snapper vs. Mangrove snapper one of the first results is a pdf with a side by side comparison.

Screenshot_20171219-210754.jpg

Edit - the resolution of both pictures is degrading when i upload but I have a clearer image on my phone that allows you to see the pectoral and anal fins clearly.

There were several juvenile red snapper caught Sunday, a couple of which still had the dark spot on the side.

Red snapper

Originally Posted by DRH

Fiver, you also didn't identify the species before throwing it back. That surely looks to be a mangrove snapper, aka grey snapper.

Nope, that is clearly a red snapper

Originally Posted by travis

The guy from Indiana has a question that may be silly.........
Any chance its a Mutton Snapper?

Been fishing here since 1994, I don't ever recall anyone catching a mutton here, even when I bottom fished offshore a lot.

That photo shows a Lutjanus Campechanus, no doubt, no question in my mind. Red snapper. Haywire has spoken---thus it shall be.

So say we all?

So say we all.

Originally Posted by DRH

That is what happens to mangrove snapper when they start getting some size to them, get darker red. I consider them to be the most intelligent fish I've caught and capable of learning to a degree. When and if this fish is caught again it will most likely be two feet long and the color of a wet red brick.

If it was a red snapper, you would see white on the bottom. Which makes their red appear pink. No white or pink, not a RS.

That would explain it since I struggle to hook and land the 11 inchers under the pier. I have never seen a 24" mangrove.