Common Name: Moses’ Snapper

Distribution: Common in the Solitary Islands Marine Park. Distributed throughout the Western Pacific region: Indonesia and the Philippines, north to southern Japan, south to Australia. In Australia recorded from Shark Bay in Western Australia, across the tropical north, Queensland south to southern New South Wales.

Ecological Notes: Adults frequents offshore coral and rocky reef, usually over 20 m. Juveniles frequent mangrove estuaries and lower reaches of freshwater streams. Depth to 70 m.

Additional Notes: Reddish-pink body colour, with large black spot below mid dorsal fin. Usually with yellow pectoral, ventral and anal fins. Juveniles in estuaries with brown stripes, similar Lutjanus fulviflamma has gold stripes below the lateral line. Adult pictured above, juvenile below. Grows to 50 cm.

References: R. Stuart-Smith, G. Edgar, A. Green, I. Shaw, Tropical Marine Fishes of Australia. Reed New Holland Publishers, 2015. p.156.

Atlas of Living Australia website at https://bie.ala.org.au/search?q=lutjanus+russelli. Accessed 04/06/18.

FishBase. Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2018. World Wide Web electronic publication. https://fishbase.ca/summary/Lutjanus-russelli.html. Accessed 04/06/18.