Yellowtail Snapper

Yellowtail Snapper, Juvenile

The Yellowtail Snapper has a long, slender, silvery-white body with a bold, bright yellow stripe extending from its pointed snout to its deeply forked yellow tail. Pale yellow spots are often visible on the upper half of its body, and its dorsal fin is yellow, while the other fins are whitish.

This Snapper is found on the reef, either in small loose groups or alone, and it swims high above the reef rather than hiding among reef structures. It feeds on a mix of plankton, small fish, crustaceans, worms, mollusks, octopuses, and squids, and is mostly active at night but also sometimes during the day. It sometimes forms spawning aggregations, releasing eggs into open water that hatch within a day as pelagic larvae.