Emperor red snapper

Lutjanus sebae, also known as red emperor, emperor red snapper, emperor snapper, government bream, king snapper, queenfish or red kelp, 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.

Distribution

Lutjanus sebae has a wide Indo-Pacific distribution from Eastern Africa where its range extends from the southern Red Sea to South Africa east into the Pacific Ocean as far as New Caledonia, south to Australia and north to southern Japan. In Australian waters this species can be found from Bunbury, Western Australia around the coast to Sydney. It has been reported twice recently in the Mediterranean Sea, near Athens, Greece, and Palermo, Sicily.

This species is an inhabitant of both rocky and coral reefs, preferring flat areas with either a sandy or gravel substrate.