Credit: Illustration by Diane Rome Peebles

Family Labridae

Description: body deep, strongly compressed; color varies, but never bicolored; usually reddish, sometimes bright brick red; soft dorsal fin with a large dark spot at base; entire top of head nape purplish brown in lare males; this patch of color continuous with blackish area that extends along entire base of dorsal fin; large blackish crescent through base of caudal fin; pelvic fin with dusky tip; 14 spines in dorsal fin - first 3 elongate, bladelike; rays at front of soft dorsal and anal fins and lower lobes of caudal fin elongate; mouth very protrusible

Young: greenish or brownish, mottled with dark

Size: to 91 centimeters (3 feet)

Remarks: esteemed as a food fish in some areas, but has been implicated in ciguatera; usually marketed as Hog Snapper

---

Save and Share this Article: