Mahogany Snapper, Lutjanus mahogany
Mahogany Snapper, Lutjanus mahogany. Fish caught off the Grand Mayan Pier, Riviera Maya, Cancun, March 2012. Length: 20 cm (7.9 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of George Brinkman, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
Mahogany Snapper, Lutjanus mahogany. Fish caught from coastal waters off Pompano Beach, Florida, December 2016. Length: 13 cm (5.0 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Eli (obsessiveangling.wordpress.com).
Mahogany Snapper, Lutjanus mahogany. Fish caught from coastal waters off San Juan, Puerto Rico, August 2018. Length: 14 cm (5.5 inches). Catch, photograph, and identification courtesy of Josh Leisen (joshadventures.com), Gaylord, Michigan.
Mahogany Snapper, Lutjanus mahogany. Underwater photograph taken in coastal waters off Bonaire, December 2019. Photograph and identification courtesy of Bob Hillis, Ivins, Utah.
The Mahogany Snapper, Lutjanus mahogany, is a member of the Snapper or Lutjanidae family, and is known in Mexico as pargo ojón. 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 Mahogany Snapper has an oblong compressed body. They are very colorful fish being gray to dark olive with a bronze tint on their upper back and transitioning to silvery ventrally; some fish have a red tinge throughout their entire body. They have a conspicuous oval black spot about the size of their eyes located on their upper back below the soft ray portion of the dorsal fin and dissected by the lateral line. Their fins are red to yellow with the caudal fin having a dusky margin. They have a yellow bar with a dark central portion above their eyes. Juveniles have dark oblique stripes from the snout through the eyes to the top corner of their gill cover and red margins on their dorsal and yellow pectoral fins. Their head has large eyes and a pointed snout with a projecting lower jaw. They have a large terminal mouth and canine teeth on both jaws with the canines on their top jaw being larger. They have 1 or more rows of pointed conical teeth on each jaw. They have a prominent spur on the lower edge of their gill cover with strong and sharp serrations. The anal fin is rounded with 3 spines and 8 rays; the caudal fin is slightly forked; the dorsal fin is continuous with 10 spines and 11 or 12 rays; and the pectoral fins are long. They have 7 or 8 gill rakers on their upper arch and 15 to 17 gill rakers on their lower arch. They are covered with small scales.
The Mahogany Snapper reside in both inshore and offshore waters in and around reefs and in sandy areas or seagrass at depths up to 100 m (330 feet). Juveniles are found in shallower waters than adults. They are one of the smaller Snappers and average 38 cm (15 inches) in length with a maximum of 48 cm (19 inches) in length and 1.3 kg (2 lbs 10 oz) in weight. As of January 1, 2024, the International Game Fish Association world record stood at 1.36 kg (3 lbs 0 oz) with the fish caught in coastal waters off Miami, Florida in December 2019. They form large aggregations during the day and can also be found within schools of White Grunts. They are night time predators that consume small bottom fish and marine invertebrates including cephalopods, crabs, and shrimp. In turn they are preyed upon by various sharks and other large predatory fish, including other species of Snappers. Reproduction occurs during the summer months with the release of pelagic eggs that are fertilized externally and hatch within 24 hours. They eventually settle out in suitable habitat that protects them from predation. The Mahogany 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 Mahogany Snappers is a resident of all waters of the Atlantic Ocean, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, however, they are less plentiful in the northwest section of the Gulf of Mexico.
Mahogany Snapper is most likely confused with the Lane Snapper, Lutjanus synagris (dark spot below soft dorsal fin and above lateral line).
From a conservation perspective the Mahogany Snapper is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. They are considered to be a good small game fish and are also utilized for food. They are caught by commercial fishermen via hook and line, gill nets, spears, and traps. They regulated in the United States with size, bag, and annual catch limits. Their fillets are marketed fresh, however, there are reports that they contain ciguatoxin. Shrimp trawlers account for a large portion of their mortality due to habitat destruction and discarding of juveniles.