Gorean snapper (Lutjanus goreensis)

Photo by abotto on iNaturalist · CC BY 4.0

Fish·Active (October)

Gorean snapper

Lutjanus goreensis

When
Active all year; habitat and behaviour shift with the season.
Habitat
Rocky ground, reefs, wrecks and harbour breakwaters down to about 50 m from Senegal to Congo, chiefly in the Gulf of Guinea and around the Cape Verde Islands. Young fish live in estuaries, lagoon mouths and the lower reaches of rivers.
Identification
A stocky red snapper with a pointed head, a steep forehead and big eyes: vermilion on the back, pink in large fish, fading to white below, with a thin blue line — whole or broken into spots — from the upper jaw under the eye to the corner of the gill cover. Young fish are plain brownish.
Notes
A voracious predator of fish, crabs and other bottom animals, named after Gorée Island off Dakar. Little is known of its life history; off Lagos, fish sampled in 2008–2010 reached about 56 cm and 3 kg.
Method
Live or cut bait — sardine, a strip of mullet, crab or squid — on a short, strong trace fished hard against rocks and wrecks, or a jig worked through the structure. Lean on it at once to keep it out of the rocks.
Caution
Snapper teeth cut: unhook with pliers. West African rules vary — ask locally.

Seasons, size limits and catch limits change every year and differ by water body. Check the current regulations for the country and the water before fishing.

Gorean snapper facts

Also called
Gorean lagoon snapper or pink snapper; vivaneau de Gorée in French; luciano da Goreia in Portuguese.
Family
Lutjanidae, the snappers.
Native range
The West African coast from Senegal to Congo, mostly in the Gulf of Guinea and around the Cape Verde Islands.
Habitat
Rocky bottoms and coral reefs from the shore to about 50 m (165 ft). Young fish are common in coastal water, particularly in estuaries, and sometimes in the lower reaches of rivers.
Water temperature
Tropical. AquaMaps puts its preferred surface water at about 25–28°C (76–82°F).
Size
Most adults 30–50 cm (12–20 in); the largest measured about 80 cm (31 in).
Record
IGFA all-tackle world record: 7.26 kg (16 lb 0 oz), Leon Mark Weeks, Port-Gentil, Gabon, 11 April 2022.
Lifespan
Not well documented.
What it eats
Fish and bottom-living invertebrates such as crabs and shrimps.
Spawning
Little studied. Like other snappers it spawns at sea, and its young settle in estuaries and coastal shallows.
Young fish
Juveniles are plain brownish and live in estuaries and coastal shallows; studies have measured them at about 8–20 cm.
Teeth and mouth
A pointed head with a broad bone below the eye; the upper jaw reaches to about the middle of the eye, and both jaws carry canine teeth.
Look-alikes
African red snapper (Lutjanus agennes) has no blue line on the cheek and very dark tips to the pelvic fins; African brown snapper (Lutjanus dentatus) is smoky grey, with scale rows that rise obliquely above the lateral line. The Gorean snapper’s scale rows on the back run parallel to the lateral line, and the blue line under its eye is the best tell.
Eating
A good table fish, marketed fresh.
Status
Data Deficient on the IUCN Red List (2013).

Interactive

Gorean snapper: size range

Move the slider from a typical adult to the largest recorded specimen, shown against objects of known size.

40 cm · 16 inmost adults102030405060708090cm3691215182124273033ina grown-up's hand · 18 cma loaf of bread · 30 cm

Most adults you'll catch: 30–50 cm (12–20 in).

This gorean snapper: 40 cm. Longer than a loaf of bread, shorter than a four-year-old.

The record

IGFA all-tackle world record: 7.26 kg (16 lb 0 oz), Leon Mark Weeks, Port-Gentil, Gabon, 11 April 2022.

Questions people ask about gorean snapper

Where does the name Gorean snapper come from?

From Gorée, the small island off Dakar in Senegal, after which the species was named.

How big do Gorean snappers get?

Most are 30–50 cm (12–20 in), and the species reaches about 80 cm (31 in). Off Lagos, fish sampled in 2008–2010 reached 56 cm and 3 kg; the IGFA world record is 7.26 kg (16 lb 0 oz), from Port-Gentil, Gabon, in 2022.

How do I tell a Gorean snapper from an African red snapper?

Look under the eye: the Gorean snapper has a thin blue line, whole or broken, from the upper jaw to the corner of the gill cover. The African red snapper has none, has very dark tips to its pelvic fins and grows much larger — its IGFA record is 60 kg.

Found in these regions

Checked against these sources ·

Sizes, records and ranges are for the species as a whole; local populations and rules vary. Records change; the record-keeper named above holds the current one.

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Also active in October