Lutjanus madras

Lutjanus madras, known as the Indian snapper, is a marine ray-finned fish in the snapper family Lutjanidae. Its range includes the western Pacific and Indian Oceans.

Taxonomy

The species was first formally described in 1831 by French zoologist Achille Valenciennes, who named it Mesoprion madras based on a specimen from Mahé in the Seychelles. The specific name madras is the local Seychellois name for the fish. Records of this species from the Pacific were once attributed to the yellowfin snapper (Lutjanus xanthopinnis), described from Japan in 2013.

Description

The Indian snapper has a slender, fusiform body, with a standard length 2.6 to 3.1 times its deepest point. Its forehead slopes gently to moderately, and the preopercular notch and knob are faint. The vomerine teeth form a triangular patch with a rearward extension, or a diamond shape, and the tongue has a patch of grain-like teeth.

The dorsal fin has 10–11 spines and 13–14 soft rays; the anal fin has 3 spines and 8–9 soft rays. Both the dorsal and anal fins have angular rear profiles. The pectoral fins have 16–17 rays, and the caudal fin is truncate or slightly emarginate. Maximum total length is 30 cm (12 in), though 20 cm (7.9 in) is more typical.

The upper back is brownish, the flanks whitish with very thin yellow lines along each scale row on the lower body. Above the lateral line, fine brownish diagonal lines run. All fins are yellow except the pelvic fins, which are whitish or very pale yellow.

Distribution and habitat

Originally thought restricted to the western Indian Ocean—recorded from Zanzibar, the Seychelles, Oman, southern India, and Sri Lanka—the species was later believed replaced in the Pacific by L. xanthopinnis. However, a recent record places L. madras in the Philippines. It inhabits coral and rocky reefs at depths of 5 to 90 m (16 to 295 ft).

Biology

The Indian snapper gathers in small to large aggregations around coral or rocky outcrops. It spawns pelagic eggs, forming spawning aggregations. It is a daytime predator.

In the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, it is common in fish markets, caught with handlines. Elsewhere, subsistence fisheries use gill nets and traps.