Fun Common Snook Facts For Kids

The common snook comes under the category of a fish and is mostly found in the coastal waters of the Atlantic, the coast of Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, and through the Caribbean, to parts of Central and South America. The common snook species is scientifically known as Centropomus undecimalis.

It can grow from 50 cm to the length of almost 140 cm and weighs up to 960 oz (27 kg). The region of their habitat depends on the water quality, along with the water temperature.

They usually live in water temperatures of between 70-82 Fahrenheit.

Species of the snook include the black snook, the union snook, the white snook, the blackfin snook, and the yellowfin snook. The common snook has soapy and shiny scales with a lateral line.

The male common snook is generally known to change to female after maturation. They are a popular game fish, preferring a vegetative habitat like salt marshes and river mouth.

They can be found both in freshwater and ocean water. The common snook is a recreational fish in the gulf coast for its culinary value and fighting ability. They are one of the most widely distributed species within the Centropomus genus.

If you want to know more about the other fish species similar to common snook, you can also check out interesting facts about garfish and tilefish.

Common Snook Interesting Facts

What type of animal is a common snook?

The common snook is a marine fish species and is also known as robalo or sergeant fish.

What class of animal does a common snook belong to?

The common snook centropomus undecimalis fish belongs the Actinopterygii class of animal species.

How many common snooks are there in the world?

The total number of common snook (Centropomus undecimalis) present in the world cannot be determined or known.

However, 12 distinct species of snook are known in total which live in the temperate waters of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The definite number of common snook present in the world cannot be made, but it is believed that there are millions of them since one common snook female gives birth to more than one million young snooks.

But overtime, several coastal areas of the world have observed a decline in the population of the common snook.

Where does a common snook live?

The common snook generally migrates from time to time, depending on the weather conditions and temperature of the water. They mostly reside in tropical, sea water, or freshwater with moderate water temperatures. They also infrequently migrate along the Texas coast to Galveston, Gulf of Mexico then more or less continuously south to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

What is a common snook's habitat?

The habitat of the common snook species differs greatly in their size or adaptability. Generally, the juvenile common snook is restricted to protect riverine and estuary environment, which offer shallow water along with overhanging vegetative shoreline, since the juvenile snook are adapted to or can survive in waters with ow oxygen levels compared to adults.

Adult common snooks are less sensitive to cold water temperatures than juvenile common snook since they inhabit several environments including beaches, river mouths, mangrove forests, nearshore reefs, seagrass meadows, and salt marshes.

Who do common snook live with?

The common snook like any other fish species stay with their groups in key colonies.

How long does a common snook live?

The discoveries of the common snook lifespan differ in different regions. In the gulf coast of Florida, the oldest lifespan of a female common snook recorded was of 15 years on the gulf coast, and on the Atlantic coast 18 years.

Whereas, the lifespan of a male common snook on the gulf coast was of 12 years and 15 years on the Atlantic coast. The lifespan of males is less because after maturation the male snook changes to female snook. Therefore, the lifespan is more in female common snook.

How do they reproduce?

The common snook fish are protandric hermaphrodites, where the males change to female after maturation. The transition of the snook fish are identified by the presence of both female and male sex cells in the gonads.

This transition takes place when they grow between 24-82 cm. Research shows that females gonads directly mature from the matured male gonads after spawning.

Once the spawning season begins, a snook can spawn every other day, and with each spawn, it generally releases 1.5 million eggs of baby snook.

The spawning of the snook typically occurs around the full or new moon, and the eggs that have been released are hatched after about 28 hours. According to the Florida fish and wildlife, the spawning of fish increases in June and July.

What is their conservation status?

The conservational status of the common snook, also known as robalo or sergeant fish, is quite undetermined since they are assumed to give birth to millions of juvenile snook every other day.

However, the population of the snook species has decreased due to recreational and commercial overfishing, along with the degradation and the destruction of their natural habitat over the last 50 years.

This decrease in snook population is now a serious concern to its extinction, thereby several restrictions on commercial fishing of snook, snook fishing, and protection laws of the marine ecosystem and population has been initiated in by authorities in several places, including commercial protection in Texas, and slot limits implemented by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Similarly, other regions have started to impose certain restrictions regarding the fishing of snook.

Common Snook Fun Facts

What do common snooks look like?

Common snook also known as sergeant fish or robalo are golden yellow fish with an elongated body, concave snout, distinct sloping forehead, and a lower jaw that sticks out. They can be characterized by their black lateral line, formed by 67-72 pored scales that extends to the caudal fins.

The length of the common snook range from 50-140 cm, and weigh as much as 23-27 kg as they mature. The range of its color can be seen from dull gray to dark brown, with dark or bright yellow to green tint on its dorsal surface.

The ventral surface is generally white and the lateral surface silvery.

Unlike other species within Centropomus, the tip of their pelvic fins does not reach the anus or overlap. The common snook has two well-separated dorsal fins.

How cute are they?

The common snook, with its exotic shiny or dark scales along with the golden yellow lateral line in its caudal fins has been an appealing look for a marine fish.

How do they communicate?

Like most fish, the common snook uses its lateral line system to detect vibrations and movements in the surrounding water.

How big is a common snook?

The length of the common snook ranges from 19-55 in (50-140 cm), and the adult common snook can grow 10 times bigger than a pink salmon.

How fast can a common snook swim?

Although the exact speed with which a common snook can swim is unknown, they are known to be fairly tricky to catch. They are predators and are able to seek out their prey, as well as avoid becoming prey, pretty well. If you do manage to catch a snook, you can feel satisfied!

How much does a common snook weigh?

An adult common snook or a large snook can weigh between 23-27 kg.

What are their male and female names of the species?

Both male and female common snook hold the same name. However, the size of the female is bigger than male, since the males changes to females upon maturation, thereby the female snook tends to grow bigger.

What would you call a baby common snook?

There is no specific name for a baby common snook.

What do they eat?

The common snook family feeds on other small fishes, shrimp, crabs, pinfish, and microcrustaceans. Sometimes, they also indulge in cannibalism.

Are they rare?

The fish snook is a rare seasonal fish that migrates to different gulf coasts from south to far north.

Would they make a good pet?

The fish snook is barely seen as a pet but as a commercial harvest for culinary purposes. Keeping it as a pet can be quite difficult since adult snook or large snook tend to grow to 20-27 kg with a length of around 19-55 in when they mature.

Did you know...

The world record of the biggest or heaviest common snook was caught on rod and reel, which weighed 53 lb 10 oz by Gilbert Ponzi in the Parismina Ranch, Costa Rica.

The common snook, Florida is one of the most popular inshore game fish due to its spectacular fighting abilities.

The word snook has been derived from the Dutch 'snoek', which means pike.

The common snook is the most common and the largest species, which has been mostly caught by the anglers.

Not all male common snook changes to female snook when they mature.

The common snook role in ecosystem can make a big difference in making us understand better how marine species respond to a change in the climate. In short, they can help us track the level of climate change through their level of adaptation or migration.

Is snook a good fish to eat?

Yes, snook food fish has been served as a delicacy in many places. Many snook recipes have been introduced by many restaurants.

The meat is white and has medium firmness, it is best served cold. The snook fish taste has excellent flavor, but you must be aware to take the skin off when preparing it, to avoid the unpleasant and soapy taste.

The common snook fillets are usually served raw and cold as sushi. Due to this, the snook population is seen to have decreased, and an increase in the commercial harvest of snook can be seen in many coastal areas.

Therefore, due to the threats to the snook population, certain restrictions on large snook fishing and commercial fishing of snook in several parts of the regions have been imposed. Some places allow fishing of snook only after the spawning season.

Why is common snook a popular game fish?

The common snook is one of Florida's most popular game fish due to its spectacular fighting ability that they inherit.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly animal facts for everyone to discover! Learn more about some other fish including smelt, or wels catfish.

You can even occupy yourself at home by drawing one on our Common Snook coloring pages.