Northern Red Snapper (Unknown Company)

The subject of today’s review is a bit of a curiosity. I got it in a lot off of eBay and it doesn’t have any manufacturer markings or identification printed on it. I could tell that it was a northern red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus), and some quick internet sleuthing allowed me to find it on amazon but again, with no indication of who made it. There are a lot of animal toys of dubious origin on amazon and elsewhere. A lot of them are bootlegs and knockoffs of toys by other companies. This fish sculpt appears wholly original though, and being of decent quality I felt it was worth sharing here.

Northern red snappers are members of the Lutjanidae family, also known as the snapper family, and are found in the western Atlantic Ocean, from Massachusetts in the United States to Brazil, but generally uncommon north of the Carolinas. They live offshore over deep reefs, banks, and rocky bottoms in waters between 33-620’ (10-190 meters). They tend to hunt along the bottom and feed on smaller fishes, crustaceans, and mollusks. They are a popular game fish and the target of commercial fishing as well. Their populations are on the decline, but partly due to shrimp fishing, where a lot of young snappers end up as bycatch.

Northern red snappers reach an average total length of 24” (60 cm) and a maximum total length of 39” (100 cm). This figure measures 7” in total length which puts it between 1/3.4-1/5.5 in scale. The figure is presented in a static/straight pose and can either rest on its pelvic fins and caudal fin or pelvic fins and lower jaw. The figure is solid and rather hefty with fins that are somewhat pliable but rigid enough to stay in place. The tips of the pectoral fins and the dorsal spines are pointy enough that I wouldn’t give this toy to a young kid.

The figure is immediately recognizable as a northern red snapper with its large head and somewhat pointed snout, sloping back, and laterally compressed body. The pectoral fins are long and pointed but there’s another point along the bottom edge that shouldn’t be there, it should be rounded off. There are 11 spines on the dorsal fin when there should be 10 and although that’s tolerable the 7 soft rays are not, there should be double that many! As a result, the soft portion of the dorsal fin is too short. There are no spines on the anal fin when there should be 3 and there are 14 soft rays when there should be 8-9. The anal fin and caudal fin are also the wrong shape. Instead of forked the tail should be truncate.

Anatomical inaccuracies aside, the toy is well sculpted with lots of fine detail. Small teeth are sculpted inside the mouth, the nostrils are accurately located in front of the eye, and the details of the operculum are decent. The figure is covered in nicely textured scales and the fin rays are well rendered. A lateral line can be seen running across the body.

The figure is red, with a yellowish red underside, and a silver wash over the body and some silver spots along the flanks. Dark red is painted across the face and dorsal fins, and along the edges of the pectoral and caudal fins, and the blending between the different tones is excellent. The teeth are white but crudely painted and the inside of the mouth is pink.

This coloration is accurate to the northern red snapper. Only the eyes are wrong, which are yellow with black pupils when they should be red. Snappers under 14” have a dark spot on the upper sides, below the anterior soft dorsal rays. This one doesn’t have that, meaning it’s a larger individual.

Although far from flawless this red snapper is surprisingly decent for a generic unbranded figure, and with no other figures of this species available (or its family, as far as I can tell) I think it’s worth seeking out for collectors of standard size fish figures. This northern red snapper is widely available online for about $13.