Snook

So, if a snook has to go to the bathroom in North Carolina, which one should it choose?

Snook are a species of fish that starts off as male then becomes female as they grow. They stay male for the first few years and then become female for the rest of their life.

Here's a video I took snorkeling at Caspersen Beach in Venice, FL. The snook are the longer fish with the yellow fins and lateral line down the side. Most of the smaller fish are greenbacks, a type of herring used in Florida as a bait fish. At the end there are a few sheepsheads. Sorry for the unclear video, but the surf was up a little that day.

The mating cycle is the really cool thing about the snook. The males spend their first year in the brackish estuaries before leaving for the saltwater. They stay males for a couple more years.

Mating happens during the summer. The females come in from the salt water during high tide and during the full moon. Mating occurs near the mouth of the estuary. Only the eggs that float into the estuary have a chance to survive since they need the lower salt content. The eggs float out with the tide then back in on the next high tide. Only a small percentage of the eggs will make it back to the estuary on the next tide.

They only get to participate as males in this ritual for a couple of years. Somewhere between years 3 and 5 the snook change into females. The next time when they come to the estuary it will be to release eggs for the smaller males to fertilize. Snook can live up to 25 years in the wild so she should have many years to propagate.

Young Man Dining Out

In an earlier article I talked about the issues in Florida Bay. Specifically since they're not able to release fresh water from into the bay Lake Okeechobee the salinity has increased considerably. The snook in the estuaries may be one of many victims of the increased salinity. They need water with low salt content for their first year. If the salinity in the estuaries increase, no more young snook.

But to end on a brighter note. The snook population has been increasing steadily over the last 20 years. There was a time they were found in Florida only off the southern half of the state numerous only in the keys. Now they're common statewide and even into Georgia and Alabama. 

And here's a way you can look like a genius next time you know somebody who brings home a snook. Bet them that it's a female. Since everybody assumes that there's a 50-50 chance it will be a female they'll take your bet at 2-1 odds. But any legal snook (28 -32 inches) will be female since the sex change happened much earlier. You'll look prescient when they clean it and pronounce it a female.