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Lane Snapper
This beautiful species, also known as the red-tailed snapper, is found from Tampa to Colon and Brazil. It is common almost everywhere throughout its range, and in Havana, where it is one of the most popular food-fishes, it is scarcely exceeded in abundance by any other species. Its strongly marked colouration renders it easy of recognition.
Colour in life, rose, tinged with silvery below, slightly olivaceous but not dark above; a large round maroon blotch, larger than eye, just above lateral line and below front of soft dorsal; series of deep golden yellow stripes along side, 3 on head, the upper from snout through eye, and about 10 on body, the lower nearly straight and horizontal, the upper undulating and irregular, extending upward and backward; belly white, its sides largely yellowish; lips red; maxillary partly yellow; tongue yellowish; iris fiery red; caudal deep blood-red; spinous dorsal nearly transparent, with a marginal and basal band of golden; pectoral pinkish; young quite green above.
The lane snapper reaches a maximum weight of about 4 pounds, though the average of those brought to the Key West market is not above 1/2 pound. The largest seen in Porto Rico was 14 inches long and weighed about 2 pounds. About this island it is known as manchego, mancheva, or raiado, and is highly esteemed as a food-fish.