Which variety of Snapper in Cuba?

[lucky]

I've been reading a lot of posts over the last few months about fishing in Cuba and Snapper has been one of the fish regularly mentioned in reports but just exactly which variety of Snapper is it that you catch in Cuba? Is it the Cubera Snapper which can be caught off the coast of Africa or is it another type found in the Caribbean?

[PanamaJack]

Um....the closest I've got to Cuba is Andros in the Bahamas when inshore, around the mangroves, you tend to catch Gray (Mangrove) Snapper or, on the reefs, Schoolmaster, Mutton or Yellowtail. (As far as I'm aware their distribution is limited to the western side of the 'Pond'.) Obviously other Snapper species turn up as well but, usually, from deeper water.

But the 'Snapper' genus, with its many different species, really is global in distribution throughout sub and tropical waters.

They grow up to the 'monsters' - with impressive canine teeth - the Guinean Snapper (Lutjanus agennes) that you mentioned. That grows to up to around 150lbs in weight and is found along the West African coast. Confusingly, as you eluded to, it's also referred to as the African Cubera.

But there're further sub species, also called Cubera, are found in both the western Atlantic and off the Pacific coast of Central America. (And there's the 'Mangrove Red Snapper' of the western Indo-Pacific.)

How they differ though I really don't know. They have almost identical body shapes, the 'classic' four massive canines and live in similar habitats. Perhaps someone else could comment?
Dave

[PanamaJack]

Lucky (and anyone else interested)
There're some pictures of Cuberas from the Pacific coast of Central America on our Club's web site - http://www.scbi.org.uk/pages/News_Aratw_CSAmerica_Panama_B.asp - and also another, Spanish forum - http://www.caranx.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=1022.

As well as any you've seen in Africa I recall that there're pictures of African fish, from Gabon, on Henry Gilbey's web site - http://www.henry-gilbey.co.uk/essay_gabon.html.
Dave

[lucky]

Thanks Dave - that's really helpful. From further reading I now think the main snapper varieties caught from the shore in Cuba are as you said the Mangrove (or Gray snapper) and Mutton snappers and also another variety called the Lane snapper which looks quite similiar to a Red snapper and grows to maximum size of 6lbs. The Lane snapper is also found in southern Florida.

Here's some links:

Mutton snapper (http://myfwc.com/marine/FishID/snapmutt.html)

Lane snapper (http://myfwc.com/marine/FishID/snaplane.html)

Gray snapper (http://marinefisheries.org/FishID/snapgray.html)

[PanamaJack]

Yes, I've caught those in the 'Keys - babies - when we've been trying to catch Pin Fish for livebaits or, slightly bigger, out in the Gulf from Key West. They're very much like Muttons apart from those yellow horizontal stripes.
Dave