Blue-and-Gold Snapper, Lutjanus viridis
Blue-and-Gold Snapper, Lutjanus viridis. Fish caught from coastal waters off Point Palmilla, Baja California Sur, February 2018. Length: 19 cm (7.5 inches).
Blue-and-Gold Snapper, Lutjanus viridis. Fish collected off the beach at Cabo Pulmo, Baja California Sur, September 2001, following the passage of Hurricane Juliette. Length: 23 cm (9.1 inches). Photograph and identification courtesy of Matt Levey, Santa Cruz, California.
Blue-and-Gold Snapper, Lutjanus viridis. Fish caught from shore at Los Barriles, Baja California Sur, December 2018. Length: 23 cm (9.1 inches). Catch courtesy of Mike Rousseau, Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada. Photograph courtesy of Brad Murakami, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada.
Blue-and-Gold Snapper, Lutjanus viridis. Fish caught from coastal waters off Point Palmilla, Baja California Sur, August 2014. Length: 25 cm (10 inches).
Blue-and-Gold Snapper, Lutjanus viridis. Underwater photograph taken in Zihuantanejo Bay, Guerrero, March 2018. Photograph courtesy of Ron Woheau, Zihuantanejo.
Blue-and-Gold Snapper, Lutjanus viridis. Underwater photographs taken in coastal waters off Punta Cholla at Isla Carmen, Baja California Sur, June 2001. Photographs and identification courtesy of Matt Levey, Santa Cruz, California.
Blue-and-Gold Snapper, Lutjanus viridis. Underwater photograph taken in coastal waters off Loreto, Baja California Sur, October 2024. Photograph courtesy of Bob Hillis, Ivins, Utah.
The Blue-and-Gold Snapper, Lutjanus viridis, is the smallest member of the Snapper or Lutjanidae Family, and is known in Mexico as pargo azul-dorado. Globally, there are sixty-seven species in the genus Lutjanus, of which nineteen found in Mexican waters, ten in the Atlantic and nine in the Pacific Ocean.
The Blue-and-Gold Snapper has an oblong body that are bright yellow and have 5 black-edged bluish-white horizontal stripes on their sides. They have a pointed snout and a large mouth. The scale rows above their lateral line are oblique and they have a deep notch on the lower edge of their cheeks. Their anal fin is has 3 spines, the second being long and thick, and 8 rays and is rounded; their caudal fin is straight; their dorsal fin is continuous with 10 spines and 14 or 15 rays; and, their pectoral fins have 16 to 17 rays. They have 16 or 17 gill rakers.
The Blue-and-Gold Snapper is found aggregations over rocky bottoms and coral reefs at depths up to 55 m (180 feet). They reach a maximum of 30 cm (12 inches) in length. They are nocturnal predators feeding on crabs, mollusks, octopus, shrimp, and small fish and take shelter during daylight.
The Blue-and-Gold Snapper is a resident of Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean but has a limited distribution being found from Magdalena Bay, Baja California Sur, southward along the southwest coast of Baja, from Loreto, Baja California Sur, southward along the southeast coast of Baja, and from Acapulco, Guerrero, southward to Guatemala along the west coast of the mainland.
The Blue-and-Gold Snapper is an easy fish to identify but is similar in appearance to the Panamic Porkfish, Anisotremus taeniatus (wider body profile; two large dark vertical bars across head). The Blue-and Gold Snapper is poorly studied with very limited information available about their lifestyle and behavioral patterns including specific details on age, growth, longevity, movement patterns, diet, habitat use, and reproduction.
From a conservation perspective the Blue-and-Gold Snapper is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. They are small in stature and too small to be of interest to most. They are either a catch-and-release or used occasionally by local pangueros as live bait sent down deep in quest of large grouper. In the greater San José del Cabo, Baja California Sur area I am aware of two colonies both in 15 m (50 feet) to 23 m (75 feet) water very close to the beach, the first about ten miles north of Puerto Los Cabos and the second off Palmilla Point. In twenty-two years of surf fishing I have seen one fish caught off a local beaches by a local surf fishermen. They are not abundant and virtually disappear for long periods of time.