They are actually members of the Sea bream family, Sparidae , and are more closely related to Bream and Tarwhine than true Snapper. The upper half of the body including the fins is silvery pink to almost red in colour and grades into a light pink to silvery white along the lower half.
The body is covered in small bright blue spots which fade in larger specimens and the bottom fins often display a blue tinge. Males can also display similar bumps on the snout.
These bumps are thought to be used by males during breeding to nudge females and stimulate release of eggs. Snapper are a demersal bottom-dwelling fish but also spend time in higher in the water column.
They prefer reef environments and areas of patchy reef and sand. Juveniles prefer shallower near shore habitats such as bays and estuaries. Adults have a wider habitat range and can be found between the shoreline out to depths of to m. Snapper are a slow-growing species that can live for 40 years or more. Spawning season varies between locations.
In warmer waters Snapper spawn between April-October, while in cooler waters they spawn between October to December. During these seasons, Snapper can form large spawning aggregations consisting of thousands of fish. Fertilisation occurs externally as males and females release eggs and sperm into the water. Snapper feed on a wide range of organisms but are mostly carnivorous. They feed on crustaceans, molluscs, fish, worms, urchins, as well as jellyfish and algae.
A rising trend amongst conscious anglers is to take a photo of larger Snapper and release them. However, they are great on the table so if you decide to take home a feed be sure to look after your fish properly by immediately bleeding and placing on ice, preferably in a salty ice slurry.
First and last light give or take a few hours is the best time of day to target Snapper. In terms of moon phase it is believed that the lead up to the full moon is a good period for targeting Snapper. Due to the diversity of depths and bottom types where Snapper can be caught it is worth paying attention to seasonal movements and latest fishing reports. Snapper will often be seen on your sounder as arches sitting up off the bottom and throughout the lower half of the water column.
When targeting Snapper on deeper reefs look for broken or rough ground, ledges or steep drop-offs. Once again watch your sounder for arches in the bottom third to a half of the water column.
Targeting Snapper in shallow water on light line in my opinion is a more challenging and rewarding method than targeting Snapper on deeper reefs. Once the anchor has held the first thing to do is work on getting a nice berley trail going to bring the fish to the boat. The aim of berleying is to increase your strike-rate and to keep the fish around for longer.
Ideally you will have the berley flowing out off the back of the boat. This has been demonstrated in marine reserves where the recovery of snapper and other predators resulted in an increase in kelp forests after these predators reduced populations of kelp-eating urchins.
The abundance of snapper in an area also influences their growth rates: when there are more snapper, their growth slows as they compete for food. Jump to Navigation Skip to main content.
Snapper - adult. Snapper occupy nearly all habitats within the inshore waters of northern New Zealand. A minimum size limit protects the spawning stock and juveniles. It allows for limited harvest of red snapper as the population continues to grow. In and , regulations prohibited harvest of red snapper in the South Atlantic to protect the population from too much fishing pressure and to allow the number of fish to increase.
Limited harvest was allowed in Harvest was prohibited in and State management consistency with federal management In the Gulf of Mexico, recreational state management measures are very different from recreational federal management measures.
In the South Atlantic, state management measures are fairly consistent with the federal management measures noted above. Some states, such as South Carolina and Georgia, automatically adopt federal regulations while others have separate regulations. Commercial fishery: In the Gulf of Mexico in , commercial landings of red snapper totaled approximately 6.
In the South Atlantic, the commercial sector was closed in and Gear types, habitat impacts, and bycatch: Commercial fishermen mainly use hook-and-line gear handlines and electric reels to harvest red snapper, and sometimes use longlines in the Gulf of Mexico and spears.
Commercial fishermen using hook and line gear attach multiple hooks to a vertical line and weight it at the bottom. Recreational anglers primarily use hook and line gear to harvest red snapper. Fishermen are encouraged to use venting tools and recompression devices when releasing fish suffering from barotrauma. Barotrauma occurs when the swim bladder of a fish expands as it is quickly brought to the surface.
Venting tools help deflate the swim bladder and recompression devices help the fish return to the depth at which it was caught to recompress the air in the swim bladder, preventing serious injury to the fish. In the Gulf of Mexico: Regulations prohibit fishing in certain areas of the Gulf of Mexico to protect sensitive fish populations and habitats.
Measures are in place to reduce sea turtle bycatch by longline gear and include limiting times or areas where fishermen can fish, gear restrictions, and a limit on the number of vessels that can participate in the reef fish fishery. In addition, all commercial fishermen must follow special sea turtle release protocols and have specialized gear to improve the chances of incidentally caught sea turtles to survive.
De-hooking devices are also required in the South Atlantic for snapper-grouper species. Measures are in place to reduce sea turtle bycatch by fishing gear and include gear restrictions and handling requirements, and a limit on the number of vessels that can participate in the snapper-grouper fishery.
Recreational fishery: Recreational anglers primarily use hook and line gear to harvest red snapper. In the Gulf of Mexico: Recreational anglers landed more than 7 million pounds of Gulf of Mexico red snapper in Red snapper must be a minimum size to be caught, and there is a limit on how many red snapper anglers can keep per day.
Charter vessels and headboats must have a permit to fish in federal waters. For-hire vessels must use specialized gear and follow certain sea turtle release protocols.
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