 |
Red Snapper
Description: color pinkish red over entire body, whitish below; long triangular snout; anal fin sharply pointed; no dark lateral spot; red eye.
Where found: both OFFSHORE and NEARSHORE
Size: to 20 pounds
Remarks:juveniles occur over sandy or mud bottoms; adults may live more than 20 years, and attain 35 pounds or more; sexual maturity attained at age 2; spawns June to October; feeds on crustaceans and fish. |
 |
Cobia
Description: long, slim fish with broad depressed head; lower jaw projects past upper jaw; dark lateral stripe extends through eye to tail; first dorsal fin comprised of 7 to 9 free spines; when young, has conspicuous alternating black and white horizontal stripes.
Where found: both OFFSHORE and NEARSHORE; frequently seen around buoys, pilings, wrecks, and oil platforms.
Size: common to 30 pounds.
Remarks: spawns in spring and early summer; feeds on crabs, squid, and small fish. |
 |
Gag Grouper
Description: brownish gray in color with dark worm-like markings on sides; strong serrated spur at bottom margin of preopercle, less noticeable in large specimens; fins dark, with anal and caudal having white margin; often confused with black grouper; most noticeable differences are brassy spots on black grouper; tail of gag is slightly concave, black grouper’s tail is square; gag has white margin on anal and caudal fins, black does not; under 10 pounds, gag’s spur on preopercle is distinctive, where black is gently rounded.
Where found: adults OFFSHORE over rocks and reefs.
Size: common to 25 pounds.
Remarks: forms spawning aggregations in water no shallower than 120 feet in Middle Grounds area, January through March; young gags are predominantly female, transforming into males as they grow larger; feeds on fish and squid. |
 |
Gray Triggerfish
Description: entirely olive-gray; dorsal and anal fins marbled; caudal fin lobes elongate in large adults; 26 to 29 dorsal fin rays; 23 to 26 anal fin rays. Young: large darker saddles on back (these saddles sometimes persist in adults); blue spots and short blue lines in dorsal fin and on upper half of body, becoming white below and in anal fin;
Where found: hardbottom, reefs, ledges. The Gray Triggerfish is a very common fish found offshore near reefs and oil rigs and at times near shore at the jetties. It has a gray body with irregular dark markings. Their small tough mouths that are well adapted for browsing on the organisms that are attached to the rocks and oil rigs around which they congregate.
Remarks: Gil-ring this fish through the mouth...they bite! |
 |
Flounder
Description: body color brown, its shade depending on color of bottom, with numerous spots and blotches; strong canine-like teeth; caudal fin in shape of wedge, its tip in the middle.
Where found: INSHORE on sandy or mud bottoms, often ranging into tidal creeks; occasionally caught on NEARSHORE rocky reefs.
Size: common to 3 or 4 pounds.
Remarks: hatches into usual fish form, but right eye migrates overt to left side early in life; a bottom dweller; thought to spawn offshore; feeds on crustaceans and small fishes. |
 |
Hogfish
Description: body deep, strongly compressed; color varies, but never bi-colored; usually reddish, sometimes bright brick red; soft dorsal fin with a large dark spot at base; entire top of head nape purplish brown in large males; 14 spines in dorsal fin - first 3 elongate, bladelike; mouth very protrusible.
Young: greenish or brownish, mottled with dark.
Size: up to 3 feet.
Remarks: fairly rare in the North Gulf Waters. esteemed as a food fish in some areas, but has been implicated in ciguatera; usually marketed as Hog Snapper. |
 |
Mangrove (Grey) Snapper
Descriptions: color dark brown or gray with reddish or orange spots in rows along the sides; dark horizontal band from snout through eye (young only); two conspicuous canine teeth at front of upper jaw; dorsal fins have dark or reddish borders
Where found: juveniles INSHORE in tidal creeks, mangroves, and grass beds; adults generally NEARSHORE or OFFSHORE on coral or rocky reefs.
Size: offshore catches common to 10 pounds.
Remarks: spawns June through August; feeds on crustaceans and small fish. |
 |
Sheepshead
Description: basic silvery color, with 5 or 6 distinct vertical black bars on sides, prominent teeth, no barbels on lower jaw; strong and sharp spines on dorsal and anal fins.
Where found: INSHORE around oyster bars, seawalls and in tidal creeks; moves NEARSHORE in late winter and early spring for spawning, gathering over rocks, artificial reefs, and around navigation markers.
Size: INSHORE, 1 to 2 pounds; OFFSHORE, common to 8 pounds.
Remarks
: while edible, not the best tasting fish in the Gulf!
|
 |
Cubera Snapper
Description: color dark brown or gray, may have a reddish tinge; broad-based triangular tooth patch on roof of mouth without a posterior extension; canine teeth in both jaws very strong; one pair of canines enlarged and visible even when mouth is closed.
Where found: juveniles INSHORE in grass beds; adults OFFHORE or NEARSHORE over wrecks, reefs, and ledges.
Size: common to 40 pounds.
Remarks: the largest of the snappers, ranging to 125 pounds; not common anywhere in its range; feeds on fishes and larger crustaceans; in the Keys, spawns during later summer. |
 |
Lane Snapper
Descriptions: color silvery-pink to reddish with short, irregular pink and yellow lines on its sides; diffuse black spot, about as large as the eye;
Where found: juveniles INSHORE over grass beds or shallow reefs; adults OFFSHORE.
Size: usually less than 1 pound.
Remarks: spawns March to September, sexually mature at 6 inches; feeds on the bottom, taking crustaceans, mollusks, and fish. |
