Yellowtail Snapper

Ocyurus chrysurus

Depth0–100 ft

A reliable reef target year-round, and the easiest good eating to bring back to the dock.

Typical2–5 lb8–16 in
Largest recorded11 lb2 ft 10 in
Depth range0–590 ftspecies-wide
IGFA all-tackle11 lbChallenger Bank, Bermuda · 2004

How big, really

A yellowtail snapper and a six-foot adult, drawn to one scale.

A six-foot adult man standing for scale, drawn to the same scale as the fish — Both drawn to one scale from the sourced length below. The fish is an illustration, not a photograph; the human figure is a stipulated 6 ft (1.83 m) reference, not a measurement.

Yellowtail Snapper drawn 1 ft 4 in long beside a six-foot adult at the same scale — Both drawn to one scale from the sourced length below. The fish is an illustration, not a photograph; the human figure is a stipulated 6 ft (1.83 m) reference, not a measurement.

The yellowtail snapper year

Twelve months around the dial, straight from the island's season data — peak months reach the outer ring. Pick a month to see what else is running. Peak: Jun, Jul, Aug.

Field notes

How it is fished: Chumming the reef: guides deploy a menhaden chum slick (often cut with rolled oats) to draw fish up in the water column, then anglers present small (1/32-1/16 oz), light-colored jigs or light-tackle bait rigs on the slick — the 'sand-balling' technique disguises the hook inside a sinking chum ball. Typically fished in 30-120 ft.
What it eats: A mix of plankton and benthic prey — small fish, crustaceans, worms, gastropods, and cephalopods — taken mainly at night; juveniles feed primarily on plankton.
Depth: FishBase: 0-590 ft overall range, most commonly 33-230 ft.
Worth knowing: Unlike most snappers, which hug the bottom, yellowtail snapper school well up in open water above the reef — an atypical trait for the snapper family (Lutjanidae) that makes them well suited to chumming.
Conservation & rules: IUCN Red List status: Data Deficient (listed since 2016) — not identified as a threatened species. No yellowtail-specific Bahamas size limit was found; the species falls under a general Bahamas demersal reef-fish bag limit reported at 60 lb or 20 fish per vessel (whichever is less) for snappers and groupers combined, per secondary aggregator sources — not independently confirmed against an official Bahamas government document.

The record

11 lbIGFA all-tackle world record

Angler William B. DuVal · Challenger Bank, Bermuda · 2004

Source

Where it lives

The island's relief model with the reef lit — 10–60 ft, patch coral and hard bottom. Drag it to change the angle.

4 of 8 mapped — 4 without usable coordinates, all listed belowEvery charter and guide the directory holds. Which boats work which water changes with the season and the weather — ask when you call.Seabed: GMRT · Coastline: © OpenStreetMap contributors

The Bimini story

Yellowtail snapper is a reliable, year-round reef target at Bimini and the easiest good eating an angler can bring back to the dock. A fly-tackle line-class IGFA record for the species was set at Bimini in 2017 (1 lb 8 oz, Austin Porter).

A fly-tackle line-class record (not all-tackle) for yellowtail snapper was set at Bimini, Bahamas: 1 lb 8 oz, Austin Porter, July 15, 2017.

Sources

What we could not verify (2)

IUCN status page not directly accessed (Data Deficient figure from aggregated secondary citation).
Bahamas demersal bag limit (60 lb/20 fish) — secondary aggregator source, not an official government PDF.