A slender silvery-blue snapper with a deeply forked tail and a jaw that runs well past the eye, giving it a longer face than any of its relatives here. It reaches about 70 cm (28 in) and hunts in open water along slopes and drop-offs rather than working the reef surface.
The long jaws and reduced teeth go with a different technique: instead of grabbing prey from cover it runs down small fish in midwater, often in fast passes at the edge of visibility. Divers see it as a pale shape cruising past on a wall dive, singly or in small groups, usually deeper than 20 m (65 ft). It is taken by hook and line throughout its range but has none of the commercial weight of the larger snappers, and reef populations here look intact.
The species. Aphareus furca (Lacepède 1801) - fork. ETYFish
- slender silvery-blue body with a deeply forked tail
- jaw extends well past the eye, giving a long-faced look
- swims in open water rather than over the reef
- length up to 70 cm
