Lutjanidae, or snappers are a family of

perciform Perciformes (), also called the Percomorpha or Acanthopteri, is an order (biology), order or superorder of Actinopterygii, ray-finned fish. If considered a single order, they are the most numerous order of vertebrates, containing about 41% of a ...

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

, mainly marine, but with some members inhabiting

estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...

, feeding in fresh water. The family includes about 113 species. Some are important food fish. One of the best known is the

red snapper Red snapper is a common name of several fish species. It may refer to: * Several species from the genus ''Lutjanus'': ** ''Lutjanus campechanus'', Northern red snapper, commonly referred to as red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico and western Atlanti ...

. Snappers inhabit tropical and subtropical regions of all oceans. Some snappers grow up to about in length however one specific snapper, the

cubera snapper The cubera snapper (''Lutjanus cyanopterus''), also known as the Cuban snapper, 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 spec ...

, grows up to in length. Most are active

carnivores A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose food and energy requirements derive from animal tissues (mainly muscle, fat and other sof ...

, feeding on

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...

s or other fish, though a few are

plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) that are unable to propel themselves against a Ocean current, current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankt ...

-feeders. They can be kept in aquaria, but mostly grow too fast to be popular aquarium fish. Most species live at depths reaching near coral reefs, but some species are found up to deep. Five-lined snapper

As with other fish, snappers harbour

parasite Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has ...

s. A detailed study conducted in

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

has shown that

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. Co ...

-associated snappers harbour about 9 species of parasites per fish species.

Timeline

Gibola ImageSize = width:700px height:auto barincrement:15px PlotArea = left:10px bottom:50px top:10px right:10px Period = from:-65.5 till:10 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:-65.5 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:-65.5 TimeAxis = orientation:hor AlignBars = justify Colors = #legends id:CAR value:claret id:ANK value:rgb(0.4,0.3,0.196) id:HER value:teal id:HAD value:green id:OMN value:blue id:black value:black id:white value:white id:cenozoic value:rgb(0.54,0.54,0.258) id:paleogene value:rgb(0.99,0.6,0.32) id:paleocene value:rgb(0.99,0.65,0.37) id:eocene value:rgb(0.99,0.71,0.42) id:oligocene value:rgb(0.99,0.75,0.48) id:neogene value:rgb(0.999999,0.9,0.1) id:miocene value:rgb(0.999999,0.999999,0) id:pliocene value:rgb(0.97,0.98,0.68) id:quaternary value:rgb(0.98,0.98,0.5) id:pleistocene value:rgb(0.999999,0.95,0.68) id:holocene value:rgb(0.999,0.95,0.88) BarData= bar:eratop bar:space bar:periodtop bar:space bar:NAM1 bar:space bar:period bar:space bar:era PlotData= align:center textcolor:black fontsize:M mark:(line,black) width:25 shift:(7,-4) bar:periodtop from: -65.5 till: -55.8 color:paleocene text:

Paleocene The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 mya (unit), million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), E ...

from: -55.8 till: -33.9 color:eocene text:

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene' ...

from: -33.9 till: -23.03 color:oligocene text:

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but the ...

from: -23.03 till: -5.332 color:miocene text:

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

from: -5.332 till: -2.588 color:pliocene text: Plio. from: -2.588 till: -0.0117 color:pleistocene text:

Pleist. The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...

from: -0.0117 till: 0 color:holocene text: H. bar:eratop from: -65.5 till: -23.03 color:paleogene text:

Paleogene The Paleogene ( ; British English, also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene; informally Lower Tertiary or Early Tertiary) is a geologic period, geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period million yea ...

from: -23.03 till: -2.588 color:neogene text:

Neogene The Neogene ( ), informally Upper Tertiary or Late Tertiary, is a geologic period and system that spans 20.45 million years from the end of the Paleogene Period million years ago ( Mya) to the beginning of the present Quaternary Period Mya. ...

from: -2.588 till: 0 color:quaternary text: Q. PlotData= align:left fontsize:M mark:(line,white) width:5 anchor:till align:left color:eocene bar:NAM1 from: -55.8 till: 0 text:

Apsilus ''Apsilus'' is a small genus of marine ray-finned fish, snappers belonging to the family Lutjanidae. The two species within the genus are native to the Atlantic Ocean, Characteristics The two species within the genus ''Apsilus'' are medium-size ...

PlotData= align:center textcolor:black fontsize:M mark:(line,black) width:25 bar:period from: -65.5 till: -55.8 color:paleocene text:

from: -55.8 till: -33.9 color:eocene text:

from: -33.9 till: -23.03 color:oligocene text:

from: -23.03 till: -5.332 color:miocene text:

from: -5.332 till: -2.588 color:pliocene text: Plio. from: -2.588 till: -0.0117 color:pleistocene text:

from: -0.0117 till: 0 color:holocene text: H. bar:era from: -65.5 till: -23.03 color:paleogene text:

from: -23.03 till: -2.588 color:neogene text:

from: -2.588 till: 0 color:quaternary text: Q.

Systematics

Lutjanidae is subdivided into four

subfamilies In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...

and 17

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

with around 110 species, as follows: * subfamily

Apsilinae Apsilinae is a subfamily of marine ray-finned fishes, one of four subfamilies classified within the family Lutjanidae, the snappers. Genera The subfamily Apsilinae contains four genera and 13 species: * '' Apsilus'' Valenciennes, 1230 * '' Lipo ...

Johnson Johnson is a surname of Anglo-Norman origin meaning "Son of John". It is the second most common in the United States and 154th most common in the world. As a common family name in Scotland, Johnson is occasionally a variation of ''Johnston'', a ...

, 1980 ** genus ''

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a s ...

, 1830 ** genus ''

Lipocheilus Tang's snapper (''Lipocheilus carnolabrum'') is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a snapper belonging to the family Lutjanidae. It is native to the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean. They inhabit areas of the continental shelf with r ...

Anderson Anderson or Andersson may refer to: Companies * Anderson (Carriage), a company that manufactured automobiles from 1907 to 1910 * Anderson Electric, an early 20th-century electric car * Anderson Greenwood, an industrial manufacturer * Anderson ...

Talwar The talwar (), also spelled ''talwaar'' and ''tulwar'', is a type of curved sword or sabre from the Indian subcontinent. Etymology and classification The word ''talwar'' originated from the Sanskrit word ''taravāri'' ( sa, तरवारि) ...

& Johnson, 1977 ** genus '' Paracaesio''

Bleeker Bleeker is a Dutch occupational surname. Bleeker is an old spelling of ''(linnen)bleker'' ("linen bleacher").Parapristipomoides''

Kami are the deities, divinities, spirits, phenomena or "holy powers", that are venerated in the Shinto religion. They can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, or beings and the qualities that these beings express; they can also be the sp ...

, 1963 * subfamily Etelinae Gill, 1893 ** genus ''

Aphareus Aphareus (Ancient Greek: Ἀφαρεύς) may refer to the following figures. * Aphareus, a Messenian king, son of Perieres and Gorgophone. * Aphareus, a Centaur that attended the wedding of Pirithous and Hippodamia. In the battle initiated by th ...

'' Cuvier, 1870 ** genus '' Aprion'' Valenciennes, 1830 ** genus '' Etelis'' Cuvier, 1828 ** genus '' Pristipomoides'' Bleeker, 2020 ** genus '' Randallichthys'' Anderson, Kami & Johnson, 1977 * subfamily Lutjaninae Gill, 1861 ** genus '' Hoplopagrus'' Gill, 1861 ** genus ''

Lutjanus ''Lutjanus'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fish, snappers belonging to the family Lutjanidae. They are found in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. They are predatory fish usually found in tropical and subtropical reefs, and mangrove fore ...

Bloch Bloch is a surname of German origin. Notable people with this surname include: A–F * (1859-1914), French rabbi *Adele Bloch-Bauer (1881-1925), Austrian entrepreneur *Albert Bloch (1882–1961), American painter * (born 1972), German motor journal ...

, 1790 ** genus ''

Macolor ''Macolor'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fish, snappers belonging to the family Lutjanidae. They are native to the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean. Taxonomy ''Macolor'' was described as a genus in 1860 by the Dutch physician, her ...

'' Bleeker, 1860 ** genus '' Ocyurus'' Gill, 1862 ** genus '' Pinjalo'' Bleeker, 1873 ** genus '' Rhomboplites'' Gill, 1862 * subfamily Paradicichthyinae Whitley, 1930 ** genus '' Symphorichthys''

Munro A Munro () is defined as a mountain in Scotland with a height over , and which is on the Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC) official list of Munros; there is no explicit topographical prominence requirement. The best known Munro is Ben Nevis ...

, 1967 ** genus '' Symphorus'' Günther, 1872 Some authorities classify the

Caesionidae Caesionidae, the fusiliers, are a family of marine ray-finned fishes in the order Perciformes. The family includes about 23 species. They are related to the snappers, but adapted for feeding on plankton, rather than on larger prey. They are fo ...

, the fusiliers, within the Lutjanidae as a fifth subfamily but the 5th Edition of ''

Fishes of the World ''Fishes of the World'' by the American ichthyologist Joseph S. Nelson (1937–2011) is a standard reference for fish systematics. Now in its fifth edition (2016), the work is a comprehensive overview of the diversity and classification of the ...

'' retains this grouping as a distinct family pending more work being conducted on its relationships. Image:Aphareus furca Maldives.JPG, '' Aphareus furca'' Image:Aprion virescens.jpg, ''

Aprion virescens The green jobfish (''Aprion virescens''), also known as the gray jobfish, gray snapper, or slender snapper, and in Hawaiian as ''uku'', is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a snapper belonging to the family Lutjanidae. It is found in the Indo ...

'' Image:Apsilus dentatus - pone.0010676.g081.png, '' Apsilus dentatus'' Image:Etelis radiosus.jpg, '' Etelis radiosus'' Image:Kash.snapper.jpg, '' Lutjanus kasmira'' Image:Macolor macularis Landaagiraavaru.JPG, ''

Macolor macularis ''Macolor macularis'', the midnight snapper, midnight seaperch or black and white snapper, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a snapper belonging to the Family (biology), family Lutjanidae. It is native to the Indian and western Pacific Oce ...

'' Image:2006-10-06 18 - Yellowtail Snapper.JPG, ''

Ocyurus chrysurus The yellowtail snapper (''Ocyurus chrysurus'') is an abundant species of snapper native to the western Atlantic Ocean including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. Although they have been found as far north as Massachusetts, their normal r ...

'' Image:Umeiro2013121501.jpg, '' Paracaesio xanthura'' Image:Pipin u0.gif, '' Pinjalo pinjalo'' Image:Pristipomoides aquilonaris - pone.0010676.g086.png, '' Pristipomoides aquilonaris'' Image:Fish4422 - Flickr - NOAA Photo Library.jpg, '' Rhomboplites aurorubens'' Image:Symphorichthys_spirulus_by_Line1.jpg , ''

Symphorichthys spilurus The sailfin snapper (''Symphorichthys spilurus''), blue-lined sea bream or blue-lined sea perch is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a snapper belonging to the Family (biology), family Lutjanidae. It is native to the Indo-Pacific region. It is ...

References

{{Authority control Commercial fish Ray-finned fish families