Species Description: Lutjanus analis is a deep-bodied and compressed snapper that may reach lengths of 30 - 77 cm (1 - 2.5 feet). It is common in inland and nearshore waters to approximately 6.8 kg (15 pounds). The dorsal fin is continuous with 9 - 11 (usually 10) slender dorsal spines, the fourth of which is the longest. The angulate soft dorsal fin has 13-14 rays. The caudal fin is deeply emarginate. The anal fin is pointed and has 3 spines, the second and third equal in length, and 8 anal rays. The pectoral fins are long, reaching past the anus.

Scales are small and ctenoid, with 47-51 lateral lines scales. There are 12-13 gill rakers on the lower limb of the gill arch. The head profile is steep and straight to the tip of the snout. The eyes are small. The mouth is large and terminal, with the maxilla just reaching the front of the orbit. The upper and lower jaws, as well as the vomer have bands of villiform teeth. In addition, the upper jaw has 6 canine teeth, 4 of which are enlarged.

The preopercule is coarsely serrated along its entire edge, and is shallowly notched at the angle. Body color is variable depending upon the activity of the fish. Adults are olive green dorsally, becoming paler laterally and ventrally. The ventral surface is reddish, as are all of the fins. The margin of the caudal fin is black. The snout bears an irregular blue line that reaches the posterior of the eye. A second blue line runs from the maxilla to the eye. A prominent black spot lies above the lateral line below the soft portion of the dorsal fin. When not active, the mutton snapper may exhibit a series of 10-12 dark vertical bars that run the length of the body.

Potentially Misidentified Species: Lutjanus analis is similar to a related species, the lane snapper, L. synagris. The two are differentiated based on the shape of the anal fin: in L. analis the anal fin is pointed, while in L. synagris, it is rounded.

Regional Occurrence: In the Western Atlantic, L. analis ranges from approximately Massachusetts south to Brazil including Bermuda, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean. It is most abundant off south Florida, the Bahamas, and the Antilles (Allen 1985).

IRL Distribution: Lutjanus analis is common throughout the Indian River Lagoon in seagrass beds, mangrove creeks and canals. Larger fishes and mature adults are generally found in offshore waters.

Age, Size, Lifespan: Mutton snapper grow to a maximum reported size of 94.0 cm (37 inches) total length (TL) (IGFA 2001) and may weigh as much as 15.6 kg (34.4 pounds). They live as long as 29 years (Bortone and Williams 1986).

Reproduction: As with most snappers, Lutjanus analis spawns offshore in groups (Wicklund 1969; Thompson and Munro 1974). It matures at approximately 40 - 50 cm (15.7 - 19.6 inches) (Allen 1985). Spawning typically occurs in July and August.

Rojas (1960) estimated fecundity in a 512 mm (20.2 inches) fork length (FL) mutton snapper as 1.4 million eggs.

Embryology: Like many snapper species, eggs are pelagic (Bortone and Williams 1986) and hatch after approximately 20 hours.

Temperature: Rivas (1970) sampled Lutjanus analis from waters where temperatures ranged from 18.9 - 27.8°C (66.0 - 82.4°F), with a mean water temperature of 24.8°C (76.6°F).

Trophic Mode: Most snappers are classified as euryphagic carnivores (Bortone and Williams 1986). In the Caribbean (Randall 1967), crabs made up 44% of the diet, fish (29%), gastropods (13%), with the remainder consisting of octopods, hermit crabs and shrimp (Randall 1967; Allen 1985).

Predators: Primary predators of snappers are sharks and other large predatory fishes including other snappers (Bortone and Williams 1986).

Habitats: Lutjanus analis adults are typically found at depths of 40 - 59 m (140 - 194 feet) depths (Rivas 1970) where they often form small schools during daylight hours, but disband at night (Allen 1985). Juveniles are most common in inshore waterways (Springer and McErlean 1962) where the substrate consists of sand, seagrasses, or coral rubble (Bortone and Williams 1986). Adults tend to remain in an area once they have become established (Beaumariage 1969; Bortone and Williams 1986) and are most common in the open waters of shelf areas and around islands. Larger adults inhabit coral reefs and rocky, hard bottom areas.

Activity Time: Lutjanus analis is active diurnally and nocturnally (Allen 1985; Bortone and Williams 1986).

Fisheries Importance:

Commercial Fishery:

The commercial fishery for mutton snapper is not of particularly high value in east central Florida, averaging less than $11,000 per year. The statewide commercial catch of gray snapper, Lutjanus analis, between 1987 and 2001 was 5.5 million pounds, with a dollar value of over $9.6 million. Within this time period however, only 92,189 pounds of mutton snapper was harvested commercially in the five-county area encompassing the IRL (Volusia, Brevard, Indian River, St. Lucie and Martin counties), with a dollar value of just $163,205 reported. This ranks the mutton snapper sixty-fourth in commercial value within the IRL, and 75th in pounds harvested.

Figure 1 below shows the dollar value of the commercial mutton snapper fishery to IRL counties by year. As shown, the commercial catch ranged from a low of $5,647 in 1989 to a high of over $22,251 the next year, 1990. Volusia County accounts for the largest percentage of the gray snapper catch with 37.3% in total (Figure 2), most of which was accounted for by the large catch in 1990. Martin County follows with 23% of the harvest, followed by St. Lucie, Brevard and Indian River Counties, which account for 19.5%, 13.7% and 6.5% of the total respectively. Of note are 2 particularly good harvests in Volusia County occurring in 1990 and 1998 which account for 65% and 61% of the annual catch respectively.

Table 1. Total dollar value of IRL mutton snapper, Lutjanus analis, between 1987 - 2001.

Table 2. By-county annual and cumulative percentages of the mutton snapper harvest for the years 1987-2001.

Table 3. By-county cumulative dollar value and percentage of total for the mutton snapper harvest from 1987 - 2001.


Recreational Fishery:

The information below reflects angler survey information taken from the five-county area that encompasses the Indian River Lagoon. Approximately 460,226 mutton snapper were harvested in east central Florida from 1997 - 2001. The bulk of the recreational harvest was taken in nearshore waters to 3 miles (43.9%) and in offshore waters to 200 miles (40.0%). Inland waters other than the Indian River Lagoon, and the IRL itself, account for only 8.5% and 7.6% respectively.

Table 4. Summary data for recreational fishery in Eastern Florida waters for the mutton snapper, Lutjanus analis, from 1997 - 2004. Data provided by National Marine Fisheries Service, Fisheries Statistics Division, NOAA.

Table 5. By-county annual and cumulative percentages of the mutton snapper harvest for the years 1997 - 2001. Data provided by National Marine Fisheries Service, Fisheries Statistics Division, NOAA.

Table 6. Summary of the mutton snapper recreational harvest and percentage of total fish captured in each area from 1997 - 2004. Data provided by National Marine Fisheries Service, Fisheries Statistics Division, NOAA.

Allen, G. R. 1985. Snappers of the World: An Annotated and Illustrated Catalogue of Lutjanid Species Known to Date. FAO Fisheries Synopsis, no. 125, vol. 6. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy. ISBN/ISSN: 92-5-102321-2.

Anderson, W. D., Jr. 1967. Field guide to the snappers (Lutjanidae) of the western Atlantic. U.S. Fish Wildl. Serv. Circ. 252.

Beaumariage, D.S. 1969. Returns from the 1965 Schlitz tagging program including a cumulative analysis of previous results. Fla. Dep. Nat. Resour. Tech. Ser. No. 59:1-38.

Bortone, S.A., and J.L. Williams. 1986. Species profiles: life histories and environmental requirements of coastal fishes and invertebrates (South Florida)-- gray, lane, mutton, and yellowtail snappers. U.S. Fish Wildl. Serv. Biol. Rep. 82(11.52). U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, TR EL-82-4.

Erdman, D.S. 1976. Spawning patterns of fishes from the northeastern Caribbean. Agric. Fish. Contrib. Dep. Agric. (Puerto Rico) 8(2):1-36.

IGFA, 2001 Database of IGFA angling records until 2001. IGFA, Fort Lauderdale, USA.

Manooch, C.S., 1987 Age and growth of snappers and groupers. p. 329-373. In J.J. Polovina and S. Ralston (eds.) Tropical snappers and groupers: biology and fisheries management. Ocean Resour. Mar. Policy Ser. Westview Press, Inc., Boulder and London.

Mason, D.L. and C.S. Manooch, III, 1985 Age and growth of mutton snapper along the east coast of Florida. Fish. Res. 3:93-104.

Randall, J.E., 1968 Caribbean reef fishes. T.F.H. Publications, Inc. Ltd., Hong Kong. 318 p.

Rivas, L.R. 1970. Snappers of the Western Atlantic. Commer. Fish. Rev. 32(1):41-44.

Rojas, L.E. 1960. Estudios estadisticos y biologicos sobre pargo criollo, Lutjanus analis. Cent. Invest. Pesq. Cuba.Nota 2:1-16.

Smith, C.L., 1997. National Audubon Society field guide to tropical marine fishes of the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, Florida, the Bahamas, and Bermuda. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York. 720 p.

Springer, V.G., and A.J. McErlean.1962. Seasonality of fishes on a south Florida shore. Bull. Mar. Sci. 12(l): 39-60.

Thompson, M., and J.L. Munro. 1974. The biology, ecology, exploitation and management of Caribbean reef fishes; scientific report of the O.D.S./U.W.I. fisheries. Ecology Research Project 1969-1973. Part V. The biology, ecology and bionomics of Caribbean reef fishes: V.D. Lutjanidae (snappers). Zool. Dep. Univ. West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica. Res. Rep. 3:1-69.

Thompson, R. and J.L. Munro. 1983. The biology, ecology and bionomics of Caribbean reef fishes: Lutjanidae (snappers). p. 94-109. In: J.L. Munro (ed.) Caribbean coral reef fishery resources. ICLARM Stud. Rev 7.

Wicklund, R. 1969. Observations on spawning of lane snapper. Underwater Nat. 6(2):40.