Fish

Yellowtail Fusilier Snapper

Paracaesio xanthura

A handsome slate-blue fusilier-snapper with a bright yellow back and tail, shoaling over deeper reef slopes.

Also known as geelstert, protea bream

Yellowtail Fusilier Snapper
Photo: Marine Explorer (Dr John Turnbull) · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Typical size
Attains 45-50 cm
Habitat
Deeper reef slopes

The yellowtail fusilier is a slender, streamlined snapper: the upper part of the body and the tail are yellow, while the head and the rest of the body are slate blue. It reaches 45 to 50 cm.

A tropical Indo-West Pacific species, it ranges south to Durban and shoals over deeper reef slopes, feeding in the open water above the bottom.