Etelis carbunculus

Etelis carbunculus goes by several common names, including deep-water red snapper, ruby snapper, longtail snapper, and ehu. It belongs to the ray-finned fish family Lutjanidae and lives across the Indo-Pacific region.

Description

This fish has an elongated body, a small head, and large eyes, with a flat area between the eyes. Its mouth reaches back to the middle of the eye, and each jaw holds a single row of conical teeth, with one or two enlarged canine pairs at the front. The vomerine teeth form a slender V-shaped patch.

Compared to related species, its forked tail fin has relatively short lobes. The continuous dorsal fin has a deep notch between its spiny and soft sections, and the last soft ray of both the dorsal and anal fins extends beyond the membrane, longer than the second-to-last ray. The dorsal fin has 10 spines and 11 soft rays; the anal fin has 3 spines and 8 soft rays, and neither fin has scales. The long pectoral fins are nearly as long as the head.

The largest recorded fork length is 127 cm (50 in), though a total length of 65 cm (26 in) is more common. Its overall color is reddish to pinkish, with a whitish belly. The dorsal and tail fins have red margins, and the lower lobe of the tail fin has a white tip.

Distribution

The species has a broad distribution across the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It ranges from the Red Sea south to Mozambique and the Persian Gulf, then across the Indian Ocean into the Pacific. In the Pacific, it extends north to Japan, south to Australia, and east to Hawaii.

It has also been recorded around Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands off northern New Zealand. In Australia, it appears from Geraldton in Western Australia east into the Arafura Sea, northeast of Darwin in the Northern Territory, and onto the outer Great Barrier Reef off Queensland, possibly farther south. It also occurs at Lord Howe Island in the Tasman Sea, as well as at Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands.

Habitat and biology

This fish lives over rocky substrates and rocky reefs at depths between 90 and 400 m (300 and 1,310 ft), near the seafloor. It has been reported forming groups. It is a predator, feeding on fish, squid, crustaceans, and zooplankton. In Vanuatu, it breeds year-round, with spawning peaking in November.

Parasites

A monopisthocotylean monogenean from the genus Lagenivaginopseudobenedenia parasitizes E. carbunculus.