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Saltwater Fish Species

Sportman's Life Staff — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 03:42:04 +0000

Saltwater fishing can be one of the most exciting fishing experiences you have ever had. It allows you to fish for some of the biggest sport fish in the ocean. Test your skills on some of these popular saltwater fish. Read species specific information about each one by simply visiting their individual species page.

Snook

Sportman's Life Staff — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 19:42:35 +0000

Snook also known as the Common Snook are identified by its protruding lower jaw, its dull gray with a yellow to green tint, and a prominent black lateral stripe from gills to the tail. They can reach lengths about 48 inches and can weigh up to 50 pounds. Snook range in habitat from coastal Mid-Atlantic United States to Brazil. They will usually be found in water temperature to tropical and sub-tropical North, Central, and South America. Their diet consists of smaller fish, crustaceans, shrimp, and sometimes crabs. The snook is one of the only fish to change sexes during their life-span.

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Saltwater Striper

Sportman's Life Staff — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:43:35 +0000

Saltwater Striper or Striped Bass are olive-green, blue, or black dorsally and have seven or eight dark, continuous stripes along the side of the body. They tend to grow more slowly than those that live in freshwater, but they live much longer. They can reach lengths as long as 60 inches. They will inhabit coastal waters and are commonly found in bays. Stripers are mainly found north to nearshore waters of the New England coast during the summer and move south to North Carolina and Virginia capes during the winter. Their diet consists of other fish, crustaceans, squids, mussels, and worms.

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Wahoo

Sportman's Life Staff — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 23:28:06 +0000

Wahoo can be distinguished by the iridescent blue-green color on the back, the silvery sides with a pattern of vertical blues bars, and small scarcely visible scales. The colors on the Wahoo will fade rapidly upon death. The mouth is large and both upper and lower jaws have a somewhat sharper appearance which contain sharp teeth. Their size can get up to 8 feet and can weigh up to 180 pounds. They can be found in tropical and subtropical waters worldwide and tend to be solitary fish, but occasionally are found in small, loose schools. They are a fast fish and can reach speeds up to 60 mph. Their diet consists of various fishes and squid.

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Tarpon

Sportman's Life Staff — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 23:26:45 +0000

The Atlantic Tarpon has a greenish or bluish color on top and has a silvery color on the sides. They have a swim bladder and is filled when oxygen levels in the water are low. The size varies as the females are generally larger than males. The size can get up to 98 inches and weigh as much as 350 pounds, but average size is about 60 inches. Their large mouth is turned upwards and the lower jaw contains an elongated bony plate which helps them crush some of their prey, which has small very densely packed teeth. They are found in the Atlantic ocean typically in tropical and subtropical regions and their diet consists of schooling fish and occasionally crabs.

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The Indo-Pacific Tarpon is olive-green on top with silver on its sides. It is smaller than the Atlantic Tarpon as its size averages at 59 inches in length and 40 pounds in weight. They are also a migratory fish and will migrate between the open sea and inland rivers. Besides the size and color it is closely related to the Atlantic Tarpon in description. Their diet consists of smaller fish and crustaceans.

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Speckled Trout

Sportman's Life Staff — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 23:25:37 +0000

The Speckled Trout has an elongated body which is silver in color and has an olive-green tint on the back and numerous small black dots which extend over the dorsal fin and into the tail. The spots are more prominent when they are young and are numerous on the back. The inside of their mouth is yellow, the lower jaw is larger than the upper jaw, and their mouth contains two large canine teeth. They can get up to 16 pounds but average about 1 to 3 pounds and can get up to 14 to 18 inches in length. They can be found in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. Their diet consists of small crustaceans, shrimp, and small fish.

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Snapper

Sportman's Life Staff — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 23:24:03 +0000

Yellowtail Snapper
Yellowtail Snapper is distinguished by its olive to bluish back and upper sides with yellow spots. Its lower sides and belly have a alternating narrow, longitudinal pink and yellow stripes. They have a prominent mid-lateral yellow stripe that begins at the mouth and continues to the caudal fin base becoming broader as it passes through the dorsal fins. Their mouth has densely packed hair like teeth with several canine teeth as well. Their length can reach 30 inches and can weigh up to 5 pounds. They live over sandy areas near deep reefs and found along North American coast of the Atlantic Ocean, their normal range is Florida through the West Indies and Brazil.

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Queen Snapper
The Queen Snapper has a long and slender body which has a deep pink to red on the upper sides and its lower sides and belly is pink. Their caudal fin is deeply forked and a brilliant red color and they have very large eyes as well. Their size ranges from 20 to 39 inches and average in weight about 11 pounds. They are found in the Western Atlantic Ocean, North Carolina, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, and Brazil. Their diet consists of other fish and squid.

Dog Snapper
The Dog Snapper has an olive-green upper side, its lower sides have a brown to bronze tinge which is lighter on the sides. Like most snappers they have sharp canine teeth. They have a pale triangle and a light blue line below their eyes when they are young, which turns to spots in adults. They can weigh up to 30 pounds and average 24 to 30 inches. They are found around coral reefs and rocky bottoms of the Western Atlantic Ocean and also in Eastern Atlantic Ocean. Their diet consists of smaller fish, shrimp, and crabs.

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Shark

Sportman's Life Staff — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 23:22:43 +0000

Great Hammerhead
The Great Hammerhead has a dorsal side that is a dark brown to a light grey or an olive fading to white on the belly. The name “hammerhead” comes from the cephalofoil which has a shallow notch in the center of adults that is nearly straight. The “hammer” is 23% to 27% of the sharks body length and its teeth are triangular and strongly serrated. They can range from 880 to over 1,000 pounds and can get as long as 11.5 feet. The females of the species is much larger than the males. They can be found in the coastal warm temperate and tropical waters of the open ocean and shallow coastal waters, and during the summer they make small migrations towards more northerly areas. Their diet consists of crustaceans, bony fish, smaller sharks, and rays.

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Sandbar Shark
The Sandbar Shark has a bluish to a brownish grey to bronze color with a pale to white underside. Their dorsal fin is triangular in shape and is very high and can weigh as much as 18% of the whole body. They average in length from 6 feet to 7.5 feet and can weigh between 100 to 200 pounds. They can be found in temperate and tropical waters in the Western and Eastern Atlantic Oceans, including the Mediterranean. They are a bottom dwelling, coastal water species eating mollusks, crustaceans, small fish, octopus, crabs, eels, rays, and squid.

Mako Shark
The Mako Shark has a metallic blue top and a white underside, the underside of the mouth is white as the longfin Mako has a dark pigmented mouth region. They can reach lengths of about 12.5 feet and can weigh up to 1400 pounds, although they averages are about 6 to 10 feet and 135 to 300 pounds and can reach speeds of about 20mph. Females tend to grow larger and weigh more than the males. The Mako shark can be found in tropical and temperate waters throughout the world’s oceans and can enhibit cooler, deeper waters by elevating their body temperature. Their diet consists of swordfish, tuna, other sharks, and squid.

Blacktip Shark
The Blacktip Shark is a large shark with a streamlined body and small eyes. They are grey in color with a long pointed snout. They have black tips or edges on the pectoral, dorsal, pelvic, and caudal fins. Their size ranges from 4.9 feet to 9 feet and their weight varies from 66 to 220 pounds. Their jaw contains 15 tooth rows on either side and their diet consists of sardines, herring, anchovies, groupers, snook, talapia, and other fish. They are widespread in all tropical and subtropical continental waters.

Great White Shark
The Great White Shark have a white underside and a grey dorsal area, sometimes in a brown or blue shade. They have a robust and conical snout, rows of serrated teeth behind the main ones ready to replace any that break off, and the upper and lower lobes on the tail fin are approximately the same size. Their size can range from 13 to 22 feet and can weigh between 4,000 and 6,000 pounds. They can be found on the coastal surface waters in all major oceans. Their diet consists of dolphins, seals, sea lions, whale carcasses, rays, tuna, and smaller sharks.

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Marlin

Sportman's Life Staff — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 23:21:24 +0000

Marlins have a elongated body, a spear-like snout, and a long rigid fin, which extends forward to from a crest. They are very fast swimmers and can reach speeds of 68 mph and more.

The Atlantic Marlin
The Atlantic Marlin is distinguished by the blue-black coloring above with a silvery white underside. It has fifteen rows of pale, cobalt-colored stripes, each of which has round does and or thin bars, located on both sides of the fish. Atlantic Marlin can reach sizes of about 19 to 20 feet and can weigh up to 1,800 pounds. The females can grow up to four times the weight of males. They are found in tropical and temperate waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, and spend the majority of its life in the open sea, far away from land. Their diet consists of mackerel, tuna, and squid.

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Black Marlin
The Black Marlin is dark blue to black above with a silver-white below. They have a limited number to no vertical stripes on its sides and pectoral fins that do not fold flat against the body. Black Marlin are very fast and can reach speeds up to 80mph. They can reach lengths up to 16 feet and can weigh up to 1,500 pounds, the average is about 98 inches and weigh up to 337 pounds. Their diet consists of dorado, mackerel, mullet, and small tuna.

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Halibut

Sportman's Life Staff — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 23:16:26 +0000

Halibut are distinguished by the blackish-gray color on top and an off-white underbelly. They are found in the Northern Pacific and North Atlantic oceans. They are the largest of the flatfish weighing in the range of 24 to 30 pounds. After six months of the halibut maturing one eye migrates to the other side making it look like a flounder. The stationary eyed side develops a blackish-gray color while the other side remains white. Their diet consists of octopus, crab, salmon, hermit crabs, herring, and flounder.

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