Stripey snapper
Lutjanus carponotatus
Illustration: Bloom by Day
Eight or nine golden stripes down a bluish-grey body, yellow fins, and a black spot tucked in the pectoral armpit. It hangs in small groups in the lee of bommies and under ledges, and will hold its place while you drift past.
how to recognise it
- eight or nine yellow to golden-brown stripes along the sides
- bluish-grey to whitish ground colour with yellow fins
- a black spot in the pectoral-fin armpit
- the scale rows on the back rise diagonally above the lateral line
don’t confuse with
- Hussar — the hussar has ONE dusky-to-golden stripe from the gill cover to the tail base, not eight or nine, and a golden patch around the eye
- Moses' snapper — Moses' snapper has no stripes as an adult and its black spot sits on the lateral line under the soft dorsal, not at the pectoral base
Field marks read from Fishes of Australia, 2026-10-15. Our wording, their facts. Max size 40 cm TL.
facts
- habitat
- reef
- size
- ~30 cm, to 40 cm
Max size from Fishes of Australia (40 cm TL); the typical size is Bluebird’s, not from a cited source
- records
- 1518 at 16 spot(s), none of
them in this region
Recorded at Low Isles (Port Douglas), Green Island (Cairns), Fitzroy Island (Cairns), Dunk Island (Mission Beach), Magnetic Island — Geoffrey Bay, SS Yongala Wreck, Hardy Reef (Whitsundays), Hayman Island — Blue Pearl Bay, Hook Island — Manta Ray Bay, Tongue Bay (Whitsunday — North), Great Keppel Island (East), Great Keppel Island (West), Heron Island (GBR), Erskine Island, Delambre Island (Dampier WA), Dampier Archipelago (WA). A count of occurrence records, not abundance. Records are where someone looked.
when it has been recorded
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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.