Caribbean red snapper
Lutjanus purpureus (Poey, 1866)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Lutjanus purpureus (Poey, 1866)—Caribbean red snapper, 207 mm SL. Photo by W Toller.
Williams, J. T.; Carpenter, K. E.; Van Tassell, J. L.; Hoetjes, P.; Toller, W.; Etnoyer, P.; Smith, M. · CC BY 2.5 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
Lutjanus purpureus, the southern red snapper or Caribbean red snapper, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a snapper belonging to the family Lutjanidae. It is native to the western Atlantic Ocean as well the Caribbean Sea.
Wikipedia contributors, Lutjanus purpureus; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T09:35:24.356802+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Lutjanus purpureus (Poey, 1866)
- Name authority
- (Poey, 1866)
- Common name
- Caribbean red snapper
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Family
- Lutjanidae
- Genus
- Lutjanus
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- familyLutjanidae Gill, 1861
- genusLutjanus Bloch, 1790
- speciesLutjanus purpureus (Poey, 1866)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Lutjanus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Lutjanus adetii (Castelnau, 1873) | LutjanidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Lutjanus alexandrei Moura & Lindeman, 2007 | LutjanidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Lutjanus ambiguus (Poey, 1860) | LutjanidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| mullet snapperLutjanus aratus (Günther, 1864) | LutjanidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| amarillo snapperLutjanus argentiventris (Peters, 1869) | LutjanidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Bengal snapperLutjanus bengalensis (Bloch, 1790) | LutjanidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| northern red snapperLutjanus campechanus (Poey, 1860) | LutjanidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| blueline snapperLutjanus coeruleolineatus (Rüppell, 1838) | LutjanidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| colorado snapperLutjanus colorado Jordan & Gilbert, 1882 | LutjanidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Lutjanus decussatus (Cuvier, 1828) | LutjanidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Lutjanus dentatus (Duméril, 1861) | LutjanidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Lutjanus dodecacanthoides (Bleeker, 1854) | LutjanidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Mesoprion purpureus Poey, 1866 Poey, 1866 | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=276547 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3WGC6. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.