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Blackfin Tuna

Blackfin Tuna (Thunnus atlanticus) Fish Description

Also known as Deep-Bodied Tunny, Albacore, or Bonite Nore in French, the Blackfin Tuna is the smallest tuna in the Thunnus genus. This fish has an oval-shaped body colored black with some faded yellow near the finlets and on the sides. 

Sometimes, the Blackfin Tuna’s sides can be bluish-black, whereas its belly is white. It possesses a vast, brown stripe along the portion of its eye. It has an eye-catching lateral band colored yellow or gold which fades upon its death. Its silvery abdomen has some vertical rows embedded with pale dots. 

Another feature that adds to the Blackfin Tuna’s beauty are the bronze reflections on its dusky dorsal finlets.

Diet and Size

In general, Blackfin Tuna reaches up to 39 inches in length and up to 46 lb in weight. On the other hand, it falls prey to Skipjack Tuna, Blue Marlin, and Dolphinfish.

Blackfin Tuna love mesopelagic and epipelagic meals alike. They feast on squid and fish primarily, but they also like the larvae of decapods, stomatopods, amphipods, and crustaceans especially crabs and shrimps.

Interesting Facts About the Blackfin Tuna

• A five-year-old Blackfin Tuna is already considered old since this species grows fast and typically lives for a very short period of time.
• Greenpeace International added many tuna species under its seafood red list; fortunately, Blackfin Tuna were not added to it.
• The Blackfin Tuna is a migratory species that creates big schools along with Skipjack Tuna.
• Blackfin Tuna transfer to more temperate waters during summer; this species has a limited range in the US.
• Despite its wide array of food choices, Blackfin Tuna can be cannibalistic.
• The Blackfin Tuna can host many parasites including copepods, gillworms, tapeworms, and flukes.
• Its genus name Thunnus is Greek for “tuna”.

Blackfin Tuna — Fishing Techniques

The Blackfin Tuna is listed as one of the most important species for both commercial and recreational fisheries. Anglers love to catch them because they are noted for being fierce fighters. Moreover, their flesh is superbly tasty; they are usually marketed fresh then processed and canned.

Some of the most common methods used to catch them are drift fishing, and trolling. You can also try capturing them using live bait and poles. According to the most seasoned anglers, what works best in hauling Blackfin Tuna are vertical jigging and chunking. Make sure to scale down your leader and hooks; this is because Blackfin Tuna have sharp eyesight.

Apart from using #30 fluorocarbons for leaders, you should also have a 5/0 to 6/0 size circle hook. Note that you can lure Blackfin Tuna into your boat by using some live chum particularly pilchards.

Blackfin Tuna Habitat and Distribution

Most of the Blackfin Tuna population is concentrated in the Gulf of Mexico to Rio de Janeiro, the Caribbean Sea, and Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts.  They prefer swimming in warm waters over 68 °F. 

Blackfin Tuna usually occur in oceanic waters near the coastline. They usually inhabit the areas near the continental shelves. They are at their peak during autumn, winter, and spring in Florida Keys.

Great Barracuda

Great Barracuda (Sphyraena barracuda) Fish Description

The Great Barracuda (Sphyraena barracuda) is one of the well-known apex predators in the ocean. In fact, because of their large size, blinding speed, and tenacious behavior, this fish doesn’t have that many predators except for sharks and dolphins. There were also some documented attacks on humans, including a couple of deaths that happened a few decades back off the coast of Key West and North Carolina. But even though it happens quite rarely, the mere fact that there have been deaths attributed to them makes the Great Barracuda one of the most feared fishes in the ocean.

The Great Barracuda, as the name implies, is quite big, often reaching five to six feet in length. Aside from its size, it’s also a well-known speedster of the sea thanks to their long, tubular body and pointed snout that allows it to swim fast with top speeds reaching thirty-five miles per hour in short bursts. With its size, strength, and speed—not to mention it’s equipped with a large mouth containing two sets of razor sharp teeth—the Great Barracuda is an extremely successful predator. It also swims in groups during a hunt, often circling and trapping preys swimming in schools. It mostly feeds on herrings, sardines, and small tunas; but can also eat shrimps, octopi, and other marine animals given the opportunity. A mature barracuda also can blend well with the shimmery open waters because of its gray, silvery color, which they use to either ambush prey or to protect themselves from other predators.   

Interesting Facts About Great Barracudas

• Great Barracudas can grow as much as six feet long and can weigh up to one hundred three pounds.
• They could swim at blinding speeds of up to thirty-five miles per hour
• Great Barracudas don’t have many predators except sharks and dolphins.
• They can live up to fourteen years in the wild.
• They hunt mainly by sight and are naturally inquisitive.
• They hunt in small groups, often trapping their prey as they swim in circles.
• They often approach divers and snorkelers not to attack but either to check for food or they were attracted by the shiny object the diver might be carrying or wearing.
• Despite its fearsome reputation, Great Barracudas rarely attacks humans.
• The last recorded death due to barracuda attack was off Key West and North Carolina that happened way back in 1947 and 1957 respectively.
• Attacks are said to be easily prevented with a few simple precautions.
• The Great Barracuda is a popular gamefish not because of its meat—which is rarely eaten due to some cases of food poisoning—but because anglers find catching them quite challenging.

Great Barracuda Size and Swimming Speed

Because of their slender, streamline body, the Great Barracuda can swim fast, with some recorded to swim as fast as thirty-five miles per hour. They can also grow huge, with some reaching up to six feet long; although average size tends to be between two to four feet.

Great Barracuda Habitat and Distribution

The Great Barracuda can pretty much be found anywhere in the world, with most occurring near shore in tropical and subtropical seas, but rarely in the eastern Pacific Ocean. In the US, you can find it along the coasts of our eastern seaboard—from as far up north as Massachusetts down to the Gulf of Mexico and the Keys.

Great Barracudas are also found near the surface of the water, especially the mature ones. Although they mostly tend to swim nearshore in coral reefs, seagrasses, and mangroves, they can sometimes wander to the deeper parts of the open ocean, often in search of food. They are also mostly found swimming alone, except when aggregate during spawning season (which is said to happen during the spring) or when they form a hunting group.

Great Barracuda Fishing Tips

Finding and hooking a Great Barracuda are not that hard given their widespread distribution as well as their veracious eating behavior. The fun begins when you hook one as it’s known to be a rather tenacious fighter, although it’s known to have a very limited stamina. If you’re lucky enough to hook a large one, you should also watch out for its last attempt to fight for survival as huge ones are known to jump and would even attempt to bite, which, as you could imagine, can do serious damage if those razor sharp teeth come in contact to your bare skin. So we highly suggest using a landing net and gloves.

Mutton Snapper

Mutton Snapper (Lutjanus analis) Fish Description

Mutton snappers have an olive color that progresses from a dark to light tone from top to bottom. Its distinguishing features are the blue lines below and behind their eyes with the presence of a small black spot on both sides. The anal fin and dorsal fin’s rear edge are pointed, while the tail fin is rounded. This type of fish can most often be confused with the lane snapper. The tips to distinguish mutton snappers from lane snappers are the small blue streaks on the face and the anal and dorsal fins pointedness.

Mutton Snapper Diet

The diet of the mutton snapper changes throughout its lifespan. As larvae, the mutton snapper feeds on plankton near the surface of the water. As it matures and grows, it moves onto the shallow grass beds and takes in larger plankton to small animals. Once the mutton snapper is an adult, it will consume fish, shrimp, crabs, octopus, squid, and snails. It has no specific time for feeding, as it nourishes itself both day and night picking food items throughout the entire day.

Mutton Snapper Size

Adult mutton snappers can become quite a large fish, that can reach up to the length of 37 inches, however, most don’t go beyond 20 inches. The weight best recognized and recorded for this species is 34 pounds.

Interesting Facts About the Mutton Snapper

• Mutton snappers are an extremely prized fish, especially game fish by saltwater anglers. Nice fighters, as they are often called, relative to the different snappers, so they are more durable to land on a lighter deal.
• The mutton snapper is recognized more for its love for swimming in sandy areas. If the snapper stays within the more sandy areas, their colors will change from their pinkish color to a more greyish tone on their bodies. 
• Mutton snappers, particularly adult muttons, are usually solitary so they are most often seen in smaller groups.

Mutton Snapper - Fishing Techniques

Mutton snappers are easy to catch, but some skill is still required. And that the presentation of the bait is of great importance! Only use the freshest bait and a light sinker to keep it still down there. The rough state of the water and slow bobbing movements will be necessary to compensate for the movements of the waters. A knocker rig or a jig to let the bait float in the current is also a good alternative to try. 

When fishing for mutton snappers in shallow waters, a good tip would be to let the bait drift in the chum slick on weight or a very low weight on a knocker rig, because those mutton snappers would love this! And chumming is also very good to get them to the surface, where you can try for flies or jigs. 

Once the mutton realizes it has been fooled, it will try and run along the ocean floor or get back into the structure. The best confidence booster to know when you’ve caught a mutton snapper is the moment you’re looking down and through the clear blue water and see pink. When that tinge of pink grows bigger as it nears the surface, that is when you need to bring it in and then lead the fish smoothly into your fish box. 

Mutton Snapper Habitat & Distribution

They are particularly widespread within the Caribbean, inhabiting reef environments. The mutton snapper is a common snapper species from Florida to South America. Occasionally, it can reach as far north as Massachusetts and south as southeastern Brazil, though these are rare occurrences. Mutton snappers can often be discovered from depths going from 82 to 295 ft, but most frequently in between 130 to 230 ft.

Muttons can be found inshore near reefs and along mangroves. Often, they are prevalent along inlets, where there is a good amount of tidal flow. But the fish can also be found along nearshore reef areas, where they tend to congregate just outside of extreme rock/reef formations in the sand. 

The adult mutton snappers tend to be more present in areas with rock or coral, whereas the younger adolescent fish happen to be in sandy habitats with weed progressive in the area.

Red Grouper

Red Grouper (Epinephelus morio) Fish Description

As the name suggests, the Red Grouper (Epinephelus morio) can easily be distinguished from other groupers by the mostly rusty red coloration of its body. While its head and upper parts tend to be darker, the color gradually lightens until it reaches the rather light red to pinkish hue of the belly. It also has some sort of blotches on its side and some distinctive white spots on its body—from the head right across to the base of its tail. And although the fins sometimes have the same coloration as its body, they usually have some sort of a black margin that runs right around the edges.

The body of the Red Grouper is known to be robust and meaty even though it’s mostly moderate in size. It has a large mouth which allows them to eat its prey whole. Its lower jaw protrudes a little bit beyond the upper jaw, both of which are equipped with several sets of razor sharp teeth that the fish uses to prevent its prey from escaping, not to rip its flesh apart. Its prey mostly consists of marine invertebrates including octopi, shrimps, and crabs, but from time to time will also eat smaller fishes.

The Red Grouper is a protogynous hermaphrodite fish. This means that all of them are females at the very beginning of their life. Many would, however, change to males as soon as they hit their sexual maturity, which is between seven and fourteen years of age. When the spawning season comes which usually occurs between January and April, both the males and the females would release their sperms and eggs in the water. The fertilized eggs would just drift with the currents until they hatch into larvae in about thirty hours. The larvae would just then live among the zooplanktons near the surface of the water. As they reach their juvenile stage, they would swim down to the bottom of the water and settle within seagrass beds where they would prey on smaller fishers and different marine invertebrates until they reach their full maturity.

Interesting Facts About Red Groupers

• The Red Grouper can grow up to four feet long and can weigh around a little more than fifty pounds.
• The biggest Red Grouper caught on record was a forty-two pounder caught off the coast of St. Augustine, Florida in 1997.
• Red Groupers have long lifespans with some reaching up to twenty-nine years of age.
• It is a protogynous hermaphrodite, which means they are all born females.
• Many would change to male as they hit sexual maturity.
• About 70% of groupers harvested in U.S. waters are Red Groupers.
• Its meat is highly regarded for its moist, firm, and flaky consistency.
• It is said to be one of the best tasting groupers because of its shellfish-like taste.
• Red Grouper meat is sold either fresh or frozen as a whole a fish, as steaks, or filleted.
• Red Grouper meat is susceptible to red tide due to its shellfish diet.
• Red Groupers are known to be one of the top predators in reefs, making them an essential part of the reef’s ecological balance.
• Red Groupers are often preyed upon by other known reef apex predators, including barracudas, moray eels, and different species of sharks.
• They are targeted by both commercial and recreational fishers.
• Although their population status hasn’t reached the “critical” levels yet, there were recorded declines in their populations in some parts of the Gulf of Mexico due to overfishing.
• Another reason for the decline is the huge number of juveniles that are accidentally caught by shrimp trawlers.
• Catch limitations for commercial and recreational fishers are placed by the authorities to help with the fish species’ population recovery.
• Commercial and recreational fishing seasons are also closed from January to April—the Red Grouper’s spawning season.

Red Grouper Average Size and Swimming Speed

Although there were some reported sightings of a Red Grouper reaching a whopping fifty pounds in weight, average weights tend to be a lot smaller of about five to ten pounds. Most also don’t grow too long as average length rarely hits the two feet mark. As for the speed, Red Groupers don’t swim that fast although they can swim much faster in short bursts to help them escape predators. 

Red Grouper Habitat and Distribution

The Red Grouper is not a migratory fish and can often be found near our eastern seaboard—from as far north as Massachusetts down to Florida and into the Gulf of Mexico. It can also be found abroad as far south as the Caribbean Sea up to southern Brazil.

This fish primarily prefers muddy and rocky bottom underwater habitats at depths of 16 to 1,083 feet. It can also be seen swimming or resting close inshore, especially in reefs, ledges, and wrecks of up to 300 deep, with many anglers catching these tasty fish in about 10 to 100 feet.

Red Grouper Fishing Tips

Although you can pretty much catch a Red Grouper using a light tackle, you better be ready for a somewhat long battle with this fish as it’s known to be one of the toughest fighters out there. Hooking one wouldn’t be much of a problem as it’s a pretty aggressive predator that is always ready to strike on every opportunity of a meal, especially if you use its favorite diet as baits such as shrimp and crab.