Lutjanus fulvus

Lore & Background

Lutjanus fulvus was first formally described in 1801 as Holocentrus fulvus by the German-speaking Polish-born naturalist Johan Reinhold Forster, with the type locality given as Ota-haitee (Tahiti). The description was published in Systema Ichthyologiae by Marcus Elieser Bloch and Johann Gottlob Schneider, and is sometimes attributed to either Bloch & Schneider or to Schneider. The specific name fulvus means 'brownish yellow,' referring to the overall tan or brownish to pale yellow-white color of the body.

The species has a body with a standard length about four times its depth, a steeply sloped forehead, and a well-developed notch in the preoperculum. The vomerine teeth are arranged in a crescent-shaped patch with no rearward extension, and the tongue is smooth. The dorsal fin has 10 spines and 14 soft rays, the anal fin has 3 spines and 8 soft rays, and the caudal fin is slightly emarginate. Overall color ranges from orange-brown or brownish to pale yellowish or whitish, with dark reddish to blackish dorsal and caudal fins having a white margin, and yellow anal, pectoral, and pelvic fins. Juveniles have yellowish horizontal stripes and a black band just under the margin of the dorsal fin.

It has a wide Indo-Pacific distribution, from the Gulf of Aden and East Africa south to South Africa through the Indian Ocean, east to the Marquesas and Line Islands, north to southern Japan, and south to Australia. During the 1950s, the Hawaiian Division of Fish and Game released blacktail snappers into Pearl Harbor and off Oahu, and it is now found throughout the Hawaiian archipelago but is nowhere abundant. It inhabits lagoons and semi-sheltered seaward reefs at depths of 2 to 75 m, and was one of the first species to recolonize a recently dredged reef off Pohnpei.

Reader's Guide

Lutjanus fulvus is a nocturnal predator of fishes, crustaceans, holothurians, and cephalopods. A study in the Yaeyama Islands of Japan found that the oldest individual was 34 years old, and most of the population were older than 3 years. The mean length at sexual maturity was 22.5 cm (about 4 years) for females and 20.7 cm (about 3 years) for males, with spawning thought to occur between April and October.

This species is commonly recorded in markets, normally as fresh fish, and is caught using handlines, traps, and gillnets. Consumption has been known to cause ciguatera poisoning, especially in the Pacific. The blacktail snapper is among the most important fishes taken by gill netting and handlining in Kiribati, and it is regarded as a commercial species in the Ryukyu Islands of Japan. Its introduction to Hawaii was intended to supplement the commercially exploited reef fish there, though it remains nowhere abundant in the archipelago.

Did You Know?

• It was first described in 1801 as Holocentrus fulvus by Johan Reinhold Forster, with the type locality given as Tahiti.
• A study in the Yaeyama Islands found the oldest individual was 34 years old.