Moses' snapper
Lutjanus russellii
Illustration: Bloom by Day
A silvery pink-grey snapper with a brown back, no stripes, and one diffuse black fingermark sitting on the lateral line under the soft dorsal. It holds around rubble, rock and structure from the harbour out to deep reef, usually in small groups that keep their distance.
how to recognise it
- whitish to silvery greyish-pink with a brownish back, and no stripes as an adult
- a diffuse black spot, sometimes faint, on the lateral line below the front of the soft dorsal fin
- the scale rows along the back rise obliquely above the lateral line
- juveniles are white with four brown to blackish stripes and an elongate black spot on the lateral line
don’t confuse with
- Stripey snapper — the stripey snapper carries 8-9 golden stripes along the body and its black spot is at the PECTORAL-fin base, not on the lateral line
Field marks read from Fishes of Australia, 2026-10-16. Our wording, their facts. Max size 45 cm TL.
facts
- habitat
- reef
- size
- ~30 cm, to 45 cm
Max size from Fishes of Australia (45 cm TL); the typical size is Bluebird’s, not from a cited source
- records
- 86 at 6 spot(s), none of
them in this region
Recorded at SS Yongala Wreck, Fraser Island — Kingfisher Bay (West), Wolf Rock (Rainbow Beach), Woorim Beach (Bribie Is. — East), Pumicestone Passage (Bribie — West), Dunwich Jetty (N Stradbroke — Bay). A count of occurrence records, not abundance. Records are where someone looked.
when it has been recorded
JFMAMJJASOND
A gap means no record in the sample, not absence.
the rule
no QLD rule listed — check before you dive
no NSW rule listed — check before you dive
no closed season recorded for this species — that is not the same as open; check the official page
Rules checked 2026-10-13 against qld.gov.au
Rules change. Check before you dive.
Occurrence data: Atlas of Living Australia (ala.org.au), CC-BY 4.0.
Diver transect counts: Reef Life Survey (reeflifesurvey.com), CC-BY 4.0, supplied via ALA.
Target and protected species: Queensland tidal-water size and possession limits (qld.gov.au) and NSW saltwater bag and size limits plus threatened species lists (dpird.nsw.gov.au).
Habitat and size: Bluebird, approximate, from general knowledge. Not cited. FishBase is CC BY-NC and this app is commercial, so it is not used.
Description written for Bloom. RECORDS ARE WHERE SOMEONE LOOKED, NOT WHERE THE FISH ARE. A record count is a count of records near here and nothing else -- it is not abundance, and a species with few records is not rare. Absence of records is not absence of fish.
Diver transect counts: Reef Life Survey (reeflifesurvey.com), CC-BY 4.0, supplied via ALA.
Target and protected species: Queensland tidal-water size and possession limits (qld.gov.au) and NSW saltwater bag and size limits plus threatened species lists (dpird.nsw.gov.au).
Habitat and size: Bluebird, approximate, from general knowledge. Not cited. FishBase is CC BY-NC and this app is commercial, so it is not used.
Description written for Bloom. RECORDS ARE WHERE SOMEONE LOOKED, NOT WHERE THE FISH ARE. A record count is a count of records near here and nothing else -- it is not abundance, and a species with few records is not rare. Absence of records is not absence of fish.