Ken Schultz's Field Guide to Saltwater Fish - Macaw Pets store

Snook
Fat Snook
Centropomus parallelus
Swordspine Snook
Centropomus ensiferus
Tarpon Snook
Centropomus pectinatus
OTHER NAMES
Fat Snook
Portuguese: robalo;
Spanish: robalo chucumite.
Tarpon Snook
Spanish: constantino, robalito,
róbalos, robalos prieto.
Distribution. In the western
Atlantic, all three species
are present and are most
abundant in southern
Florida, although swordspine
and tarpon snook are
rare on Florida’s west coast.
Fat and swordspine snook
occur around the Greater
and the Lesser Antilles,
whereas fat snook also
extend down the southeastern
coast of the Gulf of
Mexico and the continental
Caribbean coasts to Santos,
Brazil. Swordspine snook
occur down the continental
Caribbean coasts of Central
and South America to Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil. Tarpon
snook are found in the West
Indies and from Mexico to
Brazil. They are also
226 Snook
These three species of snook are all small, similar-looking
fish with almost identical ranges and habits but are less
prominent than their larger relative the common snook. As
members of the Centropomidae family, which includes the
Nile perch and the barramundi, they are excellent table
fish, with delicate, white, flaky meat, and are good gamefish,
despite their small size.
There are believed to be 12 species of snook, 6 of which
occur in the western Atlantic and 6 in the eastern Pacific,
although no single species occurs in both oceans. A good
deal is known about these three smaller Atlantic-occurring
species and about the common snook, but not about the
others, especially those in the Pacific, which include such
large-growing species as the Pacific black snook (C.
nigrescens; commonly called black snook) and the Pacific
white snook (C. viridis), as well as the smaller Pacific blackfin
snook (C. medius).
Identification. Snook in general are distinctive in appearance,
with a characteristic protruding lower jaw and a particularly
prominent black lateral line running from the gill
cover to the tail.
The fat snook has a deeper body than the other snook
have, although it is not strongly compressed. Coloration
varies, depending on the area the fish inhabits, but the fat
snook is frequently yellow-brown or green-brown on the
back and silvery on the sides, and the lateral line is weakly
outlined in black. The mouth reaches to or beyond the center
of the eye, and it has the smallest scales of all the snook.
There are 15 to 16 rays in the pectoral fin, 6 soft rays in the
anal fin, and 10 to 13 gill rakers.