E
qually at home in both resh andsalt water, the common snook isone o Florida’s premier game sh.Many saltwater anglers consider thesepowerul aquatic gladiators to be theultimate challenge. The opportunityto meet this challenge was almost eliminated in the1950s when snook stocks plummeted. Shorelinedevelopment, shing pressure, and loss o coastalhabitats all contributed to the decline. As a result,common snook were eventually designated as a gamesh—restricted to recreational harvest only. Furthershing regulations were established to protect snook,and stocks o this versatile and vigorous sh are nowrebounding.
Description
Worldwide, 13 species o the genus
Centropomus
occur in the tropics and subtropics o North andSouth America; at least ve o these species occur inFlorida. Along with the common snook, the otherour species are sword-spined snook, tarpon snook,small-scale at snook, and large-scale at snook.These latter our species tend to occupy riverineareas.The smallest o the ve Florida species, thesword-spined snook (
Centropomusensiferus
) is named or the length othe second anal n spine. Reachingonly about 12 inches in length, thisspecies is also the rarest and hasbeen reported only in the reshwatercanals and rivers o southeast Florida. Usually,neither the sword-spined nor the tarpon snook growslarge enough to be caught legally by anglers.The tarpon snook (
Centropomus pectinatus
) gets itsname rom its upturned tarpon-like snout. It has amore compressed body than the other our speciesand an orange-yellow pelvic n with a blackish tip. Itmay grow to a length o 20 inches and is mostcommonly ound in shaded, brackish-water pools.The small-scale at snook (
Centropomus parallelus
),a rotund species with a deep body, may reach 20inches in length. This second-largest member oFlorida’s snook amily is ound rom the LakeOkeechobee watershed south to the Florida Keys.
Nearly identical in appearance to the small-scale at snook, the large-scale at snook(
Centropomus mexicanus
) was conrmed in 2006.Currently this species is ound only on the eastcoast o Florida rom Sebastian to Jupiter. Evenexpert anglers may have trouble telling the twospecies apart—distinguishing characteristics in the
Scientific name
Centropomus undecimalis
is the scientic name o the common snook.
Size
To about 4 eet, 50 pounds
Range
South Carolina to southern Brazil; in the U.S., common only in Floridaand Texas
Habitat
Throughout estuary and nearshore waters, common along mangrove shorelines,in brackish streams, and in reshwater rivers and canals
Status
Only recreational harvest is permitted, with size limits, bag limits, and open andclosed seasons.
SNOOK
Tackle Busters
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation CommissionFish and Wildlife Research Institute
Snook art after Diane Rome Peebles painting.
large-scale at snook include larger scales than thesmall-scale and ewer gill rakers.
The largest o the ve species, the common snook(
Centropomus undecimalis
) is also the most abundant,wide-ranging, and sought-ater. Not surprisingly,then, it is the best-studied o the ve, and it is romthese studies that most o the ollowing inormationis derived.Snook (in south Florida, it rhymes with “snoop”)is a streamlined, extremely powerul sh. It is silverygreen, with a distinctive black lateral line that runsrom the edge o the gill cover to the tip o its tail. Thisstripe accounts or its common names o “linesider”and “sergeant sh.” The ns are sometimes a brightcanary yellow.Snook have a long, concave snout and a lowerjaw that extends beyond the upper jaw. The largemouth is lled with brush-like teeth. Although snookeed primarily on other sh, their carnivorous dietalso includes shrimp, crabs, and a variety o otherorganisms. Snook lie in wait while currents unnel theood to their vicinity, and then they ambush theirprey with lightning quickness.Snook may live more than 20 years and reach alength o 50 inches and a weight o more than 40pounds. However, in the last ve years, most snookcaught by anglers on the east coast average 9.4pounds, and gul coast catches average 7.2 pounds.The largest snook recorded rom Florida weighed 44pounds, 3 ounces, and was landed in Fort Myers in1984 using conventional tackle. The largest snookcaught in Florida using fy shing tackle was taken inChokoloskee in 1993 and weighed 30 pounds, 4ounces. The world record, as certied by theInternational Game Fish Association, is a commonsnook landed in Costa Rica in 1978 that weighed 53pounds, 10 ounces.Snook are protandric hermaphrodites, meaningthat they may reverse sex rom male to emale, anuncommon adaptation in sh. Much about this processin snook is unknown, but scientists do know that thelargest and oldest sh are most likely to be emalesand that this sex reversal is brought about by a changein the size o individuals within a group o snook. Inother words, a group that loses its largest sh has lostemales, so some males might undergo sex reversal—aprocess that occurs in as ew as 60 to 90 days.
Distribution and Habitat
Snook are cold-sensitive sh generally restricted totropical and subtropical waters. They preer movingtides and are dependent upon structures like rockoutcroppings or mangroves or shelter, which accountsor their tendency to “hug the shores” o inlets andestuaries.In Florida, snook are abundant rom SebastianInlet south on the east coast and rom Tarpon Springssouth on the gul coast. They are also ound in theGul o Mexico o Texas and Central America and inthe Caribbean throughout the West Indies. In theAtlantic, their range extends as ar south as Rio deJaneiro, Brazil.Tolerant o a wide range o salinities, snook havebeen ound rom 40 miles up the Peace River at FortMeade to eight miles oshore in the Gul o Mexico.In act, they easily adapt to just about every naturalcondition o inshore waters except cold weather.Snook are highly sensitive to temperature changes.I the temperature alls to 60°F, snook becomesluggish and “cold-shocked”; i the temperature allsbelow that or i it decreases rapidly, snook may die.This limits the northern range o snook to areas withmild winters. In these northern areas, snook keepwarm during winter by moving to rivers or protected,deep basins in inshore waters. Nevertheless, a severecold snap in the winter o 1989–1990 may have killedas many as 60,000 snook in Tampa Bay. Even insouth Florida, sudden reezes may cause highmortality.
Life History
Snook are not generally long-distance travelers; they
2
Like manatees, snook often seek refuge fromthe cold in the thermal discharges of power plants and in springs.
3
mostly move between their wintering grounds inrivers or protected basins and their spawning groundsnear inlets or the mouths o estuaries. Most snooktagged o Naples were recaptured within 10 miles otheir release site, and tagged sh released insideTampa Bay remained in the bay. However, east coastsnook appear to venture arther rom home, andsnook tagged in Jupiter and Lake Worth inlets havebeen recaptured as ar north as Cape Canaveral andas ar south as Florida Bay. Recent studies suggestthat some snook in Florida waters even travel coastto coast via the Lake Okeechobee navigationalsystem.Like salmon, snook return to the same spawningsites each summer; one Tampa Bay snook wasrecaptured at the same site or three consecutivesummers. Prior to spawning, sexually mature snookcongregate in large numbers in natural “stagingareas.”Spawning activity may begin as early as April andextend into October. It is more intense during new- orull-moon phases and may occur daily. Majorspawning activity is centered around months withlong daylight hours, generally June and July, andtapers o in August and September. Mature emalesmay produce more than 1.5 million eggs with eachspawn and may spawn every other day in the earlypart o the season.As is common with many marine organisms, onlya small raction o the eggs survive. Scientistsspeculate that snook reproduction in Florida alsosuers rom additional cold-induced stresses becausesnook are tropical shes, and our state waters are atthe northern limit o their range.Snook eggs hatch and develop into larvae about28 hours ater ertilization. These larvae drit withcurrents or 15–20 days. As the larvae develop intojuveniles, they move into the upper reaches oestuaries, seeking quiet, secluded areas withoverhanging shade. Their range o movementincreases as they grow, but they usually remain inprotected areas until they reach sexual maturity,which takes 2–3 years or males and 3–4 years oremales. Females live longer than males and arealmost always larger than males o the same age.
Fishing Notes
The snook is to inshore saltwater anglers what alargemouth bass is to avid reshwater anglers. Oncehooked, the snook’s speed and strength strain thevocabulary as well as the shing line. “Tacklebuster,”“linestretcher,” and “acrobat” are just a ew o theterms used by snook anglers to describe these silverbullets. Indeed, although snook is one o the tastiesto all sh, with white, faky meat that is high inprotein and low in calories, it is valued more todayor its ghting spirit than its favor.Anglers seeking snook are advised to sh orthem rom one hour beore high tide through the rstthree hours o the outgoing tide. Live bait such aspinsh, croakers, ngerling tilapia, and sardine arepreerred; 90% o all snook caught are taken thisway. About 70% o the sh caught by recreationalanglers are taken during summer months, and anglerswho nd the large staging areas are likely to have thebest luck; however, it is not recommended to target aspecies during its spawning season. Among thosegathering spots are Rattlesnake Key in Tampa Bayand, on the east coast, Jupiter, Lake Worth, andSebastian inlets.
Management and Protection
Snook were harvested commercially until 1957, whendeclining populations prompted the State to establishrestrictions that eectively barred commercial harvest.Nevertheless, snook stocks continued to decline inmany areas o the state. In one study, researchersnoted a 70% decrease in the number o snook in theNaples–Marco Island area rom 1979 to 1981. In1982, snook received urther protection when it wasdeemed a Species o Special Concern, a designationthat was removed in 2001. Currently, the snook islisted as a protected species.Habitat losses associated with the dredging andlling o mangrove areas are one likely cause o thedecline, as well as increased shing pressure romrecreational anglers. Additionally, spraying pesticidesto control mosquitoes causes high mortality amonglarval snook. Given the continued stresses on snook
Search History:
Result 00 of 00
00 results for result for
p.
Sea Stats - Snook
Equally at home in both fresh and salt water, the common snook is one of Florida's premier gamefish. Many saltwater anglers consider these powerful aquatic gladiators to be the ultimate challenge.
This brochure discusses the four… (More)
This brochure discusses the four… (More)
14.7K
Reads
1
Readcasts
3
Embed Views
More From This User
Notes
Load more
