Cubera snapper (Lutjanus cyanopterus) is a saltwater, brackish species recorded in the United States. It is mainly found over reef, at depths of 18–70 m.
Scientific name: Lutjanus cyanopterus · Water: Saltwater, Brackish
Size: up to 160 cm
The cubera snapper is a lutjanid whose adults are found mainly around ledges over rocky bottoms or around reefs, with the young sometimes in mangrove areas. They feed mainly on fishes, shrimps, crabs and lobsters using their strong canines, and it is a wary fish that is not easily approached underwater. It is recorded from 18 to 70 m, and it also enters brackish water. Maximum length is about 160 cm total length, commonly about 90 cm, and it can live 55 years. It is a commercial species and a gamefish, with a high price category. Fishing vulnerability is very high at 83 of 100 and resilience very low. IUCN lists it as vulnerable.
The body is oval, rather streamlined and elongate, and less deep than in many other snappers. It has a pair of front nostrils and a pair of rear nostrils that are no more than simple holes in the snout, and the relatively large mouth has thick lips. The jaws are armed with canine teeth, one enlarged pair of them visible even when the mouth is closed, and the vomerine teeth form a crescent-shaped or triangular patch with no central posterior extension, with a further tooth patch on each side of the roof of the mouth. The preoperculum carries a weakly developed knob and notch. The pectoral fins are long, the dorsal fin is continuous and the caudal fin truncated; the dorsal fin has 10 spines and 14 soft rays and the anal fin three spines and seven or eight soft rays, and there is sometimes a notch behind the spiny part of the dorsal fin. The maximum published weight is 57 kg. The overall colour is grey to dark brown with pale to dark-grey flanks, some individuals showing a slight reddish hue; the caudal fin is light grey, the pectoral fins are translucent to pale grey, and a bluish hue appears on the anal, pectoral and pelvic fins. Juveniles carry an indistinct barred pattern on the flanks. It is found in the western Atlantic from Nova Scotia south to Santa Catarina in Brazil, throughout the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico and around Bermuda.
Caution: large individuals carry a ciguatera risk. Heat, cold and marinating do not remove the toxin, which concentrates in the liver, roe and head, so avoid eating those parts. Seek medical help if numbness, tingling or a reversed sense of hot and cold follows a meal.
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