Red snapper,
the glamour fish in the snapper family, are most common in
the northern Gulf of Mexico, followed by the western Gulf
and least common in southern Florida. Small and medium red
snapper have a strong attraction to any sort of bottom relief
or obstruction — reefs, rocks, ledges, wrecks, offshore
oil and gas platforms, and even such small things on the bottom
as pipeline valves and 55-gallon drums. As red snapper become
larger, over 10 pounds, they seem to spend more time on relatively
open bottom. Frequently, concentrations of large “sow”
snapper over 20 pounds in weight are located on open, obstructionless,
clay bottoms.
Red snappers
are caught more frequently in shallow offshore waters in the
cooler months than in the warmer months. This may be due to
actual fish movement shoreward in the fall and winter, or
to changes in feeding behavior of fish that are present year
round. Red snappers are usually found in depths between 50
feet and 300 feet. Juvenile red snappers under 10 inches long
live in shallower waters, over mud and sand bottoms.
These
snappers spawn over 20 times a year at 4 to 6 day intervals
between late May and early October, with a peak in June-August.
Some red snappers mature at under one foot in length and they
continue to spawn for the rest of their lives. Small fish
will produce less than 500 eggs per spawn and large fish over
2 million eggs. Red snappers spawn in early evening. Their
eggs and larvae are free-floating and at the mercy of currents.
Red snappers
are often considered territorial fish that move infrequently
as adults. Recent research has shown that red snappers may
move around more than is commonly thought. In the late 1990s,
researchers caught, tagged, and released almost 3 thousand
red snappers in the northern Gulf. Almost 19% of these tagged
fish were recaptured. Of these only about 26% of the fish
tagged were in the same place one year later. The average
tagged fish moved 18.6 miles before recapture. Tagged red
snappers were found to move further and faster than ordinary
when hurricanes affected an area. The longest distance moved
was 219 miles.
Because red snappers are considered reef fish, it would be
logical to assume that they eat smaller creatures from the
reefs. Interestingly, most of their diet has been found to
consist of creatures that live on mud bottoms. They get very
little nutritional benefit from reefs. Fish are the number
one item in their diet, with the most common ones being pipefish,
snake eels, searobins, pinfish, striped anchovies, cusk eels,
and pigfish. Stomatopods (king shrimp or sea lice) are the
second most important food item, followed by several species
of crabs. Also eaten are tiny pinhead-size zooplankton and
bottom worms. Shrimp make up only a very small portion of
their diet.
Their
food habits change by season. Fish are always important, but
crabs are the most common food item in spring and stomatopods
are most important in the winter. A lot of stomatopods are
also eaten in the summer, but almost none in the spring or
fall. Diet also changes with fish size. As red snappers grow
larger, they eat more fish. Also, the largest snappers, those
24 inches long and longer, eat far more stomatopods.
Red snappers
also have daily feeding periods. One study showed that they
had empty stomachs from 7:00 p.m. until 3:00 a.m. It seemed
that the fish then began feeding heavily, reaching a peak
at 4:00 a.m., but continued heavy feeding until 6:00 a.m.
Red snappers
are a heavily regulated species with a relatively large minimum
size. Undersized fish must be released, often to the distress
of fishermen. Many of the red snapper caught, especially from
deeper waters, have their stomachs protruding from their mouths,
forced there by the expansion of gases in the air bladder
as the fish are brought to the surface. Most fishermen assume
that all of the fish released in such condition will die.
Research indicates that, unless another bigger fish eats them
first, that 70-80% of these fish will recover and survive.
Only one thing will cause 100% of them to die — well
intended fishermen poking a hole in the stomach with a knife
or other sharp object to “help the fish swim down.”
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