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SNOOK
The Snook is confined to the American tropics and subtropics. Six species occur in the Atlantic and six in the Pacific. None occur in both oceans. They inhabit shallow coastal waters, estuaries and brackish lagoons, often penetrating far inland in fresh water. Their movements between fresh and salt water are seasonal, but they stay close to shore and never stray far from estuaries.
They are very distinctive and it would be difficult to confuse them with any other fishes. The lower jaw protrudes and a highly prominent black lateral line runs from the top of the gill cover along the sides and all the way through the tail. The body is compressed and the snout depressed and pike like. Two dorsal fins are separate by a gap. The second anal spine is conspicuous, spurlike, much thicker than the first and third. The margin of preopercle is serrate, with 1-5 enlarged denticles at angle.
One of the specifics relating to this fish species is that the colors will likely be variable depending on the season, habitat, or any number of other conditions. The back of the Snook may be brown, brown-gold, olive green, dark gray, greenish silver, or black, depending largely on the areas the fish inhabits. The flanks and belly are silvery.
The best fishing methods for catching Snook include trolling or casting artificial lures or still fishing with live baits like mullets, pinfishes, shrimps, crabs, or other small fish. Seems that the best fishing action is on the changing tide, especially high falling tide around river mouths and coastal shores and night fishing from bridges and in ocean inlets.
Internationally
Snook are distributed throughout the tropical waters of the western Atlantic Ocean from the coast of the North Carolina to Brazil including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.