Red Bay Snook?

[screaminleeman]

What is a Snook? I bought a juvinile Red Bay Snook around six month ago. It has grown to about 10".

My nephew came up from Florida for the Christmas holiday. I was showing him my tanks and he asked about this fish. I informed him that is was called a "snook" from the cichlid family.

He started to explain that this had to be a mistake, and that "snook" is a family of fish and has less then nothing to do with the cichlid family. He said that the Tarpoon are part of the snook family. He showed me many many pictures of them catching "snook" in Florida.

Even more surprising was that in the pictures there were numerous "snook" well over two feet long that were UNDERSIZED throwbacks. These "illegally small" snook that my nephew and friends were releasing were larger then the maximum listed for the Red ay Snook that I have.

My question is, does the term (Snook) have no more meaning/ relation to the cichlid family fish then the term (dolphin)?

Why was the term "snook" used to name the cichlid that I own. It does not look at all like the game fish "snook"?

 

[Octofasciata Aficionado]

I'm not too familiar with this species, but I know that there are many fish with common names that link them to unrelated species. Prime example the electric eel is really a knifefish. Come to think of it it's not just fish look at the Killer Whale, it's in fact a dolphin.

 

[notnew2dis]

Its name is Petenia Splendida. It is a cichlid, and has nothing to do with the real "Snook".The name Red Bay Snook is just common usage.

You see this same thing in the hobby with other fish:
A red tail shark is not a shark, but that's what most people call them,
same as a Bala Shark, and a bunch of other cyprinids and catfish that are commonly known as "sharks".

 

[Camphilophus]

Red bay snook is the common name for petenia splendida your nephew is talking about saltwater snooks which are a totally different species. This is the problem with common names.