Colorado Snapper, Lutjanus colorado

Colorado Snapper, Lutjanus colorado. Fish caught from coastal waters off Mazatlán, Sinaloa, October 2020. Length: 30 cm (12 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Eli (obsessiveangling.wordpress.com).

Colorado Snapper, Lutjanus colorado. Fish caught from coastal waters off Puerto Adolfo Lopez Mateos within the northern portion of the Magdalena Bay complex, Baja California Sur, November 2023. Length: 32 cm (13 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Chris Wheaton, Fullerton, California.

Colorado Snapper, Lutjanus colorado. Fish caught from coastal waters off Mazatlán, Sinaloa, October 2017. Length: 42 cm (17 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Kenneth Tse, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Colorado Snapper, Lutjanus colorado. Fish caught from coastal waters off Mazatlán, Sinaloa, October 2021. Length: 44 cm (17 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Bart, The Netherlands  (worldangler.eu).

Colorado Snapper, Lutjanus colorado. Fish caught from coastal waters off Puerto Adolfo Lopez Mateos within the northern portion of the Magdalena Bay complex, Baja California Sur, November 2023. Length: 46 cm (18 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Chris Wheaton, Fullerton, California.

Colorado Snapper, Lutjanus colorado.  Fish caught from coastal waters within Magdalena Bay, Baja California Sur, October 2019. Length: 51 cm (20 inches).

Colorado Snapper, Lutjanus colorado. Fish provided by the commercial fishermen of the greater Los Cabos area, Baja California Sur, August 2008. Length: 51 cm (20 inches).

Colorado Snapper, Lutjanus colorado. Underwater photograph taken in coastal waters off Loreto, Baja California Sur, October 2024. Photograph courtesy of Bob Hillis, Ivins, Utah.

The Colorado Snapper, Lutjanus colorado, is a member of the Snapper or Lutjanidae Family, and is known in Mexico as pargo colorado. Globally, there are sixty-seven species in the genus Lutjanus, of which nineteen are found in Mexican waters, ten in the Atlantic and nine in the Pacific Ocean.

The Colorado Snapper has a moderately deep (33% to 37% of SL) elongated body with a dark red color that gradually transitions to pink ventrally. Their fins are also dark red. Juveniles have dusky bars on their sides. They have a large mouth and modest-sized eyes. Their anal fin has 3 spines and 8 rays and is pointed; their caudal fin has a straight or slightly concave edge; their dorsal fin has 10 spines and 13 or 14 rays with a pointed end; and, their pectoral fins have 16 or 17 rays. They have 11 or 12 gill rakers on the lower arch. Their body is covered with large scales and the rows on their upper back run parallel to the lateral line.

The Colorado Snapper is found adjacent rocky reefs at depths up to 90 m 300 feet). Juveniles are known to enter estuaries. They reach a maximum of 1.07 meters (3 feet 6 inches) in length. As of January 1, 2024, the International Game Fish Association world record stood at 11.65 kg (25 lbs 11 oz) with the fish caught in coastal waters off Puerto Jimenez, Costa Rica, December 2022. They are typically solitary fish and feed on crabs, mollusks, octopus, shrimp, and small fish. The Colorado 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.

The Colorado Snapper is a resident of all Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean with the exception that they are absent from the northern half of the Sea of Cortez.

The Colorado Snapper can be confused with juvenile Pacific Dog Snapper, Lutjanus novemfasciatus (large canines; eight to nine dark bars on sides; rounded anal fin; scales above the lateral line are oblique), the Pacific Red Snapper, Lutjanus peru (silvery pink), and the Whipper Snapper, Lutjanus jordani (grayish red; rounded anal fin with nine rays).

From a conservation perspective the Colorado Snapper is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable widely distributed populations. They are actively pursued by commercial fishermen utilizing hook and line and marketed fresh or frozen.