Snappers and Emporers

Snapper Family

A common fish in Singapore. Best was to catch it is with a Sabiki setup.
Best way to prepare the fish is to pan fry the fish.
This fish is named after the Indian ocean, not the Indian people
Horizontal strips on its body helps the individual fish to blend into a larger school of similar fish, it make it difficult for the predator to pick out the exact location of an individual fish.

This snapper is a popular light game and food fish, composing a major portion of both the sport and commercial catches. Shrimp trawlers account for a large portion of the total fishing mortality on this snapper, as juveniles occur over soft bottom areas containing high shrimp populations.
Adults inhabit very shallow coastal habitats, often in large schools near freshwater run-offs.
The strip of the snapper help to ‘break’ its features, like the eyes to help is blend into its environment. Similar to how soldier would use black camo to break the contours of the eyes and nose.

The Russell's Snapper share similarity with the John's Snapper(Golden Snapper). Like the John's snapper, it has a dot on its body, which led most anglers to mis-identify the fish. It can be found throughout local waters and commonly found near rocky areas or in places with structures and covers. They can be found in muddy seabeds, river mouths and swampy areas.
Unlike the John's snapper, they don't grow very large. Encountering one over 1kg is considered uncommon in local waters. They are aggressive in feeding, especially when they are in a group. They will take prawns (dead or live), squids, small fishes and worms.
They live in brackish water in rocky areas and coral reefs at depths of 20–50 m
Ang Zho Kee = Russell's Snapper
The black dot on the body confuses the predator as it looks like another pair of eyes, the predator will not know which direction the snapper will swim to.

Horizontal strips on its body helps the individual fish to blend into a larger school of similar fish, it make it difficult for the predator to pick out the exact location of an individual fish.
Spanish Flag are active predators which use ambush tactics to prey mostly on smaller fishes and crustaceans. However, I’ve personally seen larger Spanish Flah regurgitate whole juvenile sea turtles, so they are certainly high on the aggressiveness scale on a pound for pound basis.
During breeding, females (~) release eggs (often more than 1 million) and these are fertilised by sperm released by males (|). In most reef associated snappers, fertilised eggs hatch within a day or two into small forms (larval stages) that drift with currents for about 1 month. Less than one in every thousand of these small floating forms survives to settle on a reef as a young fish (juvenile).

Common Name: Ang Zho
According to my regular fishmonger at Lor Ah Soo market, the Ang Zhor is the best eating fish amongst the snappers
The table sized fish are much sought after and so are also the most expensive. more expensive than the Bigger ones, the table size snappers have the best tasting and most tender meat.
The fish is so popular with the local fishing community that many paypond operators bring in this fish locally to release into their fishing ponds! This is because the fish (be it wild or farmed) gives an excellent account of itself during the fight and it is reasonable eating even when from the farm.
Golden Snapper is a popular farmed fish, escapees are common in the Ubin area.
Farmed Golden Snappers are usually very dark in colour, have tattered fins (bacteria infection, lots of anti bodies needed to keep them alive, survival rate is about 50%)

Red is the first few colours that disappears with depth, the Red snappers will looks like Back Snappers underwater and this will help the snapper blend into the dark environment.
They are tasty! There are more than one million recipes for red snapper online.
They can grow to be as much as 50 pounds in weight, and 40 inches in length. Additionally, the red snapper is capable of living more than 50 years.
A popular farmed fished in Singapore, the farmed versions looks grey with tattered fins.
They have enlarged canine teeth, which is why they are called “snappers.”
They are severely overfished in Singapore because of a common take all practise.
Most of the Crimson snapper that you see in the market which are table size (30cm) are locally farmed fish. They are good eating fish, even for the farmed variety. Most Zi Chars use Crimson snapper for fish head curry because their supply is more predictable and being a smaller fish, each pot of curry is less expensive than the speciality fish head curry restaurants that use wild caught fish.

The Pink Ear Emperor is a common fish throughout our waters, typically favouring reef/rocky and sandy places, feeding on small crustaceans and small fishes. They are able to bury themselves under shallow sand for protection, especially for younger fish
This fish that looks like it has a bleeding wound near the gills is sometimes seen on some of our shores, near seagrasses. It is said that adults are found in deeper waters, but younger fishes hang about in loose groups in mangroves and among seagrasses.
90% of them are female. Only the strongest male survives to mate with the female.
The bigger emperors are usually the males and the make up about 40% of the emperor above 30cm long
It can change colour by switching on pigment cells in its skin. When an emperor is frightened, it often produces blotchy vertical brown bands across its body. It can have one colour pattern when taken out of the water and develop another over the following minutes
The vertical bands helps it to blend into sea weeds and vertical structures

The spangled emperor can live for more than 30 years. It can grow to 800 mm and 8 kg. It has a golden-brown body with blue spots on the scales of the upper body and blue bars or lines radiating from the eyes over the cheeks and snout.
It can change colour by switching on pigment cells in its skin. When an emperor is frightened, it often produces blotchy vertical brown bands across its body. It can have one colour pattern when taken out of the water and develop another over the following minutes
The vertical bands helps it to blend into sea weeds and vertical structures
The spangled emperor is the rarer and usually the larger than the Pink Ear Emperor.