Saddletail Snapper, Lutjanus malabaricus (Bloch & Schneider 1801)


Other Names: Large-mouthed Nannygai, Large-mouthed Sea-perch, Malabar Blood Snapper, Malabar Snapper, Nannygai, Red Bass, Red Bream, Red Emperor, Red Jew, Red Snapper, Saddletail Seaperch, Saddle-tailed Sea Perch, Saddle-tailed Seaperch, Saddle-tailed Sea-perch, Scarlet Emperor, Scarlet Sea Perch, Scarlet Seaperch, Scarlet Sea-perch

A juvenile Saddletail Snapper, Lutjanus malabaricus, in the Gold Coast Seaway, southern Queensland, June 2015. Source: debaston / iNaturalist.org. License: CC by Attribution-NonCommercial


Cite this page as:
Bray, D.J. 2020, Lutjanus malabaricus in Fishes of Australia, accessed 04 Oct 2024, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/561

Saddletail Snapper, Lutjanus malabaricus (Bloch & Schneider 1801)

More Info


Distribution

Known in Australia from Shark Bay, Western Australia, around the tropical north to Sydney, New South Wales. Elsewhere, widespread in the tropical Indo-West-Pacific. Juveniles usually in shallow inshore waters.

Inhabit coastal and offshore reefs as adults, often around sponges and gorgonian corals, or hard muddy bottom areas. They often form mixed schools with the Crimson Snapper, Lutjanus erythropterus.

Feeding

Feeds mostly at night on fishes, and also on crustaceans, cephalopods and other benthic invertebrates.

Biology

Mature at about 9 years of age, males at 27-28 cm SL, females at 35-37 cm SL.

Fisheries

In Australia, the species comprises three biological stocks: the North West Shelf stock, the northern Australian stock (including the Timor Sea, Arafura Sea and Gulf of Carpentaria) and the east coast of Queensland stock.

Saddletail Snapper are an important commercial species  taken using baited traps, handlines, droplines, trot lines and semipelagic otter trawls. The species is also popular with recreational anglers.

Species Citation

Sparus malabaricus Bloch & Schneider,  1801. Systema Ichthyologiae : 278. Type locality: Coromandel, India.

Author

Bray, D.J. 2020

Resources

Atlas of Living Australia

Saddletail Snapper, Lutjanus malabaricus (Bloch & Schneider 1801)

References


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Allen, G.R. 1985. FAO Species Catalogue. Snappers of the World. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of lutjanid species known to date. FAO Fisheries Synopsis No. 125, Vol. 6. Rome : FAO 208 pp.

Allen, G.R. 1997. Marine Fishes of Tropical Australia and South-east Asia. Perth : Western Australian Museum 292 pp. 106 pls.

Allen, G.R. & Erdmann, M.V. 2012. Reef fishes of the East Indies. Perth : Tropical Reef Research 3 vols, 1260 pp.

Allen, G.R. & Swainston, R. 1988. The Marine Fishes of North-Western Australia. A field guide for anglers and divers. Perth, WA : Western Australian Museum vi 201 pp., 70 pls.

Allen, G.R. & Talbot, F.H. 1985. Review of the snappers of the genus Lutjanus (Pisces: Lutjanidae) from the Indo-Pacific, with the description of a new species. Indo-Pacific Fishes 11: 1-87.

Anderson, W.D. & Allen, G.R. 2001. Lutjanidae. pp. 2840-2918 in Carpenter, K.E. & Niem, V.H. (eds). The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fisheries Purposes. Rome : FAO Vol. 5 2791-3379 pp.

Blaber, S.J.M., Brewer, D.T. & Harris, A.N. 1994. Distribution, biomass and community structure of demersal fishes of the Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia. Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 45(3): 375-396.

Bloch, M.E. & Schneider, J.G. 1801. Systema Ichthyologiae Iconibus ex Illustratum. Berlin 584 pp. 110 pls.

Carpenter, K.E., Lawrence, A., Myers, R., Russell, B. & Smith-Vaniz, W.F. 2019. Lutjanus malabaricus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2019: e.T194346A2317529. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-2.RLTS.T194346A2317529.en. Downloaded on 19 November 2019.

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Fry, G., Milton, D.A., Van Der Velde, T., Stobutzki, I., Andamari, R., Badrudin & Sumiono, B. 2009. Reproductive dynamics and nursery habitat preferences of two commercially important Indo–Pacific red snappers Lutjanus erythropterus and L. malabaricus. Fisheries Science 75: 145–158.

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Quick Facts


CAAB Code:37346007

Conservation:IUCN Least Concern

Depth:12-140 m

Fishing:Commercial, recreational species

Habitat:Reef associated

Max Size:100 cm TL

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CAAB distribution map