Fat snook seem to be most abundant near sources of fresh water.

UNSUNG SNOOKS

Tarpon Snook (C. pectinatus)

As the name implies, this fish looks somewhat like a tarpon. The body is very thin laterally like a tarpon, but most noteworthy is the long head and upturned jaw. Is this a result of tarpon and snook interbreeding? Not so, say scientists. The two probably share feeding habits, keying on prey swimming overhead, and so over time their bodies evolved similarly.

A tarpon snook’s eyes are much bigger than those of other snooks; it may be that the species relies on sight more so than its cousins. Or perhaps it’s related to a chiefly nocturnal lifestyle. Very rarely do I catch tarpon snook during the day.

One of the key differences among snook species is the size of their scales. All fish, including snook, retain the same number of scales on their body no matter what their size. The scales just get bigger with age. I’m not recommending you try to count every scale, but it’s worth noting that the scientific community has figured out that tarpon snook have 65 scales that stretch from the head down to the tail, following the lateral line.

If you gently open the gill of a snook and look behind the red gills you will see white cartilaginous structures; these are gill rakers and they help keep small prey from escaping through the gills when a snook closes its mouth. Each species has a different number; on a tarpon snook you will find 21 to 22 gill rakers, the most of all the snooks.

The anal fin is another key characteristic. Common, fat and swordspine snook all have one large hard spike followed by six soft rays. The tarpon snook is the only snook that has seven soft rays on the anal fin, not counting the first hard spike. The spike is always shorter than the longest soft ray.

Lastly, the tarpon snook is the only snook that has dark tips on the ends of the anal, ventral and pectoral fins. But, these dark tips fade with age, so don’t assume it is not a tarpon snook if it doesn’t have dark tips on the fins.

We catch tarpon snook throughout the estuary but have noticed they seem to congregate in specific areas. I know of three spots where we catch tarpon snook on a regular basis. The first one is the dock we fished in the beginning of this story. We have caught hundreds of tarpon snook on it but very rarely do we catch one on the docks just adjacent to it. The same is true for a point of land about a mile away. We catch them right on the point but don’t catch them on the bank to either side. This all tells me that tarpon snook are very territorial and stage at the exact same area.

Tarpon snook don’t get real big, topping out at about three pounds.

Fat Snook (C. parallelus)

This is perhaps the most difficult snook to identify because its anal fin goes through a change and juveniles look different from adults.

As the name implies, these snook are just plain fat. They closely resemble a football but don’t be fooled: tarpon and swordspine snook also have proportionately larger bodies than common snook, so be sure to check for other characteristics.

The head and eyes are similar to those of common and swordspine snook. The fat snook has the smallest scales of all the snooks. It has 83 scales down the lateral line.

The fat snook is the second largest snook and it has the second least number of rakers. This may reflect the fact that it eats larger prey, and so doesn’t need as many rakers. It has 15 or 16 gill rakers.