Blackspot Snapper

Lutjanus fulviflamma has a body which varies in shape from moderately deep to relatively slender with a standard length which is 2.5 to 2.9 times its depth, with a head which is not very steeply sloped. The incision and the knob on the preoperculum are not well developed. The vomerine teeth may be arranged in a triangular patch with a posterior extension or in a rhombus and there is a patch of grain-like teeth on the tongue. The dorsal fin has 10 spines and 12-14 soft rays while the anal fin contains 3 spines and 8 soft rays. The rear part of the dorsal and anal fins vary in shape from rounded to rather angular. The pectoral fins contain 15 to 17 rays and the caudal fin can be truncate or slightly emarginate. This fish attains a maximum total length of 35 cm (14 in), although 30 cm (12 in) is more typical. This snapper has a pale coloured body marked with 5-7 narrow yellow horizontal stripes of equal width on the flanks, the longest of these extends through the eye on to the snout. There is a quadrilateral black spot on the lateral line three-quarters of the distance between the head and the caudal fin.

Lutjanus fulviflamma has a wide Indo Pacific distribution. It occurs in the Red Sea from the Gulf of Suez and Gulf of Aqaba south along the eastern African coast as far south as eastern South Africa and eastwards through the Indian Ocean, including the Persian Gulf, into the Pacific Ocean as far easy as Samoa. They reach as far north as the Ryukyu Islands of southern Japan and south to northern Australia. There is also a single record from the Mediterranean Sea, from Malta, which had an eastern African origin as phylogenetic analysis showed. They occur at depths between 0.5 and 35 m (1 ft 8 in and 114 ft 10 in) and in a number of different habitats with the juvenils occasionally frequenting in brackish lagoons and estuaries while the adults normally form schools over coral reefs and in deeper lagoons.