SNAPPER

any of about 250 species of fishes of the family Lutjanidae (order Perciformes). Snappers are found, often in abundance, throughout the tropics. Active, schooling fishes with elongated bodies, large mouths, sharp canine teeth, and blunt or forked tails, snappers are usually rather large, many attaining a length of 6090 centimetres (23 feet). They are carnivores and prey on crustaceans and other fishes. Snappers are valuable and well-regarded food fishes. Some, however, such as the dog snapper (Lutjanus jocu) of the Atlantic, may contain a toxic substance and cause ciguatera, a form of poisoning. The better known species of snapper include the emperor snapper (L. sebae), a red and white Indo-Pacific fish; the gray, or mangrove, snapper (L. griseus), a gray, reddish, or greenish Atlantic fish; the red spot snapper (Lethrinus variegatus);the yellowtail snapper (Ocyurus chrysurus), a swift-moving Atlantic species with a broad, yellow stripe from the nose to the wholly yellow tail; and the red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus), a bright-red fish (one of several red-coloured snappers) famed as food and found in rather deep Atlantic waters. The bluefish (q.v.), of the family Pomotomidae, is also sometimes called a snapper.