Chordates • Earth.com

Blackfin snapper

(Lutjanus buccanella)

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Description

The blackfin snapper (Lutjanus buccanella), also known as the blackspot snapper, blackfin red snapper, gun-mouth backfin, gun-mouth snapper, redfish and wrenchman is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a snapper belonging to the family Lutjanidae. It is native to the western Atlantic Ocean. It is a commercially important species, though it has been reported to carry the ciguatera toxin. The blackfin snapper has the typical almond-shaped body of the snappers in the genus Lutjanus, its body is relatively deep and laterally compressed. The dorsal fin is continuous but has two lobes, the caudal fin is truncate, the pectoral fins are long and the anal fin is rounded. The mouth is large with a slightly protrusible upper jaw which slips under the cheekbone when the mouth is closed. Each jaw has at least one row of pointed conical teeth some of which have developed into canines. The vomerine teeth are arranged in a chevron with a posterior extension running down the centre of the roof of mouth, on each side of the roof of the mouth there is a single tooth patch. The preopercular incision and knob are poorly developed. The scale rows on the back extend diagonally from the lateral line. The dorsal fin has 10 spines and 14 soft rays, with a slight incision after the spines, while the anal fin has 3 spines and 8 soft rays. The maximum total length recorded for this species is 75 cm (30 in) although 50 cm (20 in) is more typical, and the maximum published weight is 14.0 kg (30.9 lb). The overall colour of this species is red fading to silvery-red on the abdomen. The caudal, anal and pelvic fins are yellowish. There is an obvious dark comma at the base of the pectoral fins, which gave this fish its most widely accepted common name. The juveniles are resemble the adults but they have a wide vivid yellow patch on the dorsal part of the caudal peduncle. The blackfin snapper is a species of the western Atlantic Ocean. Its range extends from Bermuda and North Carolina southwards along the Atlantic coast of the United States to the Bahamas, then west into the Gulf of Mexico from the Florida Keys, the Flower Garden Banks and vicinity to Veracruz, Mexico south to the northern Yucatan Peninsula and northwestern Cuba. It also extends throughout the Caribbean Sea, along the South American coast as far south as Sao Paulo, Brazil. It occurs over sandy and rocky substrates close to ledges at depths of 60 to 90 m (200 to 300 ft).

Taxonomic tree:

Domain:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum:
Class: Actinopterygii
Order:Perciformes
Family:Lutjanidae
Genus:Lutjanus
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