Fish
Smalltooth Jobfish
Aphareus furca
A slender, blue-grey deep-reef snapper with a large mouth, taken over drop-offs and pinnacles off KZN.
Also known as blue smalltooth jobfish, humpback snapper, small-toothed jobfish, smalltooth job, snapper(humpback)
- Typical size
- Commonly 40-60 cm, up to about 70 cm
- Habitat
- Deeper reefs, pinnacles and drop-offs
- Depth
- About 10-120 m
The smalltooth jobfish is a streamlined, fork-tailed member of the snapper family with a large, oblique mouth and very fine teeth. It is generally blue-grey to violet with a paler belly, often showing yellow tinges around the mouth and on the fins, and dark margins on the tail.
It hunts over deeper coral and rocky reefs, pinnacles and drop-offs along the northern east coast, usually in small groups, chasing small fish and squid in midwater. Fast and roving, it is more often encountered by spearos working the blue edge of reefs than by shallow-reef divers.