Lutjanus malabaricus

Lutjanus malabaricus was first formally described in 1801 as Sparus malabaricus by the German naturalists Marcus Elieser Bloch and Johann Gottlob Schneider with the type locality as the Coromandel coast in eastern India. The specific name malabaricus means "of Malabar", a coastal region of southern India. ==Description==

Lutjanus malabaricus has a relatively deep body, which has a standard length that is 2.2 to 2.8 times as long as the body at its deepest point. It has a steeply sloped forehead, with a concave upper profile to the snout, and the preopercular incision and knob are weakly developed. The vomerine teeth are arranged in a crescent shaped or triangular patch with no central rearwards extension, and there are no teeth on the tongue. The dorsal fin has 11 spines and 12-14 soft rays, while the anal fin contains 3 spines and 8-9 soft rays. ==Distribution and habitat==

Lutjanus malabaricus has a wide range in the Indo-West Pacific to the Persian Gulf east to Fiji, from southern Japan south to Australia. It has also been confirmed to occur in Tonga and Kosrae and at Jeju Island in South Korea. There are also unconfirmed reports from Eastern Africa. The juveniles show a preference for shallow waters close to shore, while the adults prefer deeper areas. ==Biology==

Lutjanus malabaricus forms mixed aggregations with other snappers, in Australia this tends to be with the crimson snapper. They are nocturnal hunters foraging during the night, predominantly for fish, but they also catch a few benthic crustaceans, cephalopods and other benthic invertebrates. They spawn for much of the year closer to the equator, peaking in spring and summer off New Caledonia and Australia. == Fisheries and conservation ==

Lutjanus malabaricus is considered to be a high quality food fish and is pursued by commercial, artisanal and recreational fisheries throughout its range. It is considered to be overfished in many areas such as the Persian Gulf and Indonesia. It is caught using trawls, although handlines and bottom longlines are also used. Some of the fish landed are exported to international markets. In southern China, this species is grown in mariculture. Although it has been overfished and the population has declined in some areas in others, such as Australia, fishing is strictly regulated, and populations are stable so the IUCN has assessed the species as Least Concern. ==References==