This colorful fish is one of the friendliest fish in all of the Caribbean. Most fish will just ignore you, and some will run away and hide. But the Yellowtail Snapper is the fish that is most likely to swim up to your mask and look you in the eye.

Yellowtail Snappers are very common throughout the tropical Atlantic Ocean. These fish are found as far north as Massachusetts and as far south as Brazil. They also are found near Bermuda in the central Atlantic, and near the Cape Verde Islands off the coast of Africa. However, Yellowtail Snappers are not found in the Pacific or Indian Oceans.

Yellowtail Snappers are built for speed. These fish live in open water above the coral reefs. Yellowtail Snappers eat small fish. They must be fast to chase and catch their prey. Fish that live near the reef often hide among the corals for safety, but fish that live in open water must also be fast to escape from other predators. This Yellowtail Snapper has many characteristics of open-water fish that are fast swimmers. It has a large and forked tail fin. Its other fins are small and streamlined. Its body is also streamlined, with a pointed snout and a narrow caudal peduncle. (The caudal peduncle is where the tail attaches to the fish's body. The caudal peduncle must have strong muscles to move the tail back and forth to push the fish through the water.)

This Yellowtail Snapper was about 14 inches long. As its name suggests, it has a bright yellow tail. Its scales are silver, and it has a bright yellow stripe down the center of its body. Notice its medium-sized mouth, the right size for catching small fish.

Compare this Yellowtail Snapper to the Nassau Grouper and the Black Jack. How are these other fish similar and how are they different?

In the background is a very complicated coral reef. There are many corals and sponges, including a tall Barrel Sponge near the top on the left. The water was very clear at the time this picture was taken, with visibility of nearly 100 feet (meaning you could see clearly up to 100 feet away).

Jonathan Dowell took this photo using a Canon A2 camera with a 28-105mm zoom lens in an Ikelite underwater housing. This picture was taken near San Salvador, The Bahamas in October, 2001.

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