Fish Identification Photos: Blue and Gold Snapper, Lutjanus viridis: The Blue and Gold Snapper is very easy to identify being bright yellow with five black-edged bluish white stripes that run horizontally along its body. The scale rows above the lateral line are oblique and there is a deep notch on the lower edge of the cheek.

The Blue and Gold Snapper is a member of the Lutjanidea or Snapper Family known in Mexico as "pargos."

In Mexico, the Blue and Gold Snapper has been observed along the Pacific mainland coast south of Acapulco, on the Pacific coast of Baja California as far north as Guerrero Negro, and into the Sea of Cortez at least as far north as Loreto.

It grows to about one foot in length and is occasionally caught over coastal rocks and reefs on bait or lures. It is said to be more common around all of the offshore islands, including the Tres Marias and Revillagigedos where they form large aggregations over rocky and coral reefs.

The Blue and Gold Snapper might be confused with the Panamic Porkfish, Anisotremus taeniasus (two large dark vertical bars across the head).

The Blue and Gold Snapper is good table fare, but usually too small to fillet and is either a “catch and release” or returned to the ocean as a live bait pinned with a 5/0 hook.