Twinspot (Red/Bohar) Snapper Lutjanus bohar Photo's & Information In South Africa
The Twinspot Snapper is a relatively unknown saltwater fish species off the South African coastline as it is not caught as often as it is along the East African coast and in the Australia region. The Twinspot Snapper, as we call it, is also known as the Red Snapper and the Bohar Snapper, the latter coming from it's Latin name.
The
Twinspot (Bohar) Snapper grows up to 90 centimeters plus, but in Southern
African waters specimens of over 80 centimeters are rarely encountered.
This, one of many species of Snapper that occur in South Africa, can be
found from north of Port St. Johns up to Mozambique and then further up
the coastline into Eastern Africa. Twinspot Snapper are tropical fish
and thus they require warm waters over reefs, where they can be found
from 3 meters up to 75 meters of water, in terms of depth. The Twinspot
(Bohar) Snapper is a solitary fish that lives in crevices, holes and
caves in the reefs. Crustaceans, Worms and small reef dwelling fish make
up most of their diet. The male Twinspot Snappers grow much larger than
the females and prey on Squid quite often. An interesting fact about the
immature or juvenile Twinspot (Bohar) Snapper is that they use mimicry
to their advantage. When they are small they mimic Damselfish which
allows them to get right on top of their prey before they attack and
devour it. The Twinspot Snapper gets it's name from the 2 round 'spots'
on the side of the fish (Twinspot) and Snapper because of how
ferociously it Snaps its mouth open and closed once the fish has been
caught. They have very sharp teeth and can create great pain and loss of
fingers if not handled carefully!
How To Catch The South African Twinspot (Bohar/Red) Snapper?
As mentioned earlier the Twinspot Snapper is not a
commonly caught fish in Southern African waters but they are very fond
of lures
and artificial baits such as vertical jigs. There has been an increase
in captures of Twinspot Snapper in Southern Africa since Vertical
Jigging has become more popular. And as you can see in the photograph
above they often take
poppers and other surface lures. The Twinspot Snapper can be caught
on baits
fished on the bottom, baits such as Chokka and small live Mackerel and
Shad are arguably the better bottom baits to target this species on,
they are also fond of sardine baits and heads.
