Schoolmaster snapper

Description:

Is the fish on top. Adults are 30–35 cm long and weigh 0.4–0.8 kg. It has a robust, slightly compressed body, with a pointed head. Its color varies from silvery to bronze. Fins and tails are yellow and the snout contains blue stripes. As the common name suggests, schoolmaster snapper live in groups of dozens of subjects. They keep a short distance from the sea floor at depths between 10 and 90 ft, prefer the cover provided by coral reefs during the day, and expand their range to seagrass beds at night. The schoolmaster snapper is sometimes called the barred snapper or the caji. Like other snapper species, it is a popular food fish.

Habitat:

The schoolmaster snapper is found in coastal areas of Florida, the Bahamas, and the Caribbean. It lives in shallow, clear, warm, coastal waters over coral reefs, sand with plants, and mud in mangrove areas or other reef-associated bottom types. These were spotted in a variety of dive sites in Bonaire and Klein bonaire.