Blackfin snapper

The blackfin snapper (Lutjanus buccanella), also known as the blackspot snapper, blackfin red snapper, gun-mouth backfin, gun-mouth snapper, redfish and wrenchman 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 species, though it has been reported to carry the ciguatera toxin.

Distribution

The blackfin snapper is a species of the western Atlantic Ocean. Its range extends from Bermuda and North Carolina southwards along the Atlantic coast of the United States to the Bahamas, then west into the Gulf of Mexico from the Florida Keys, the Flower Garden Banks and vicinity to Veracruz, Mexico south to the northern Yucatan Peninsula and northwestern Cuba. It also extends throughout the Caribbean Sea, along the South American coast as far south as Sao Paulo, Brazil. It occurs over sandy and rocky substrates close to ledges at depths of 60 to 90 m (200 to 300 ft). The adults are found offshore close to the continental shelf, while the juveniles are normally found in rocky outcroppings in the vicinity of reefs in shallower waters at depths between 6 and 18 m (20 and 59 ft).