Are all snook born male?
Yes, all snook are born male and once they reach a length of approximately 22 inches they change sexes. As the male snook gets to be 6 or 7 years old and roughly 2 feet in length they will become females depending upon the environmental pressures of their area.
The term for a fish that changes sexes from male to female is protandrous hermaphrodites. The odds of a snook getting old enough to reach the length of a slot snook (currently 28 to 32 inches), is extremely long.
It is estimated that only 1 out of every 5 million snook eggs that are hatched will ever make it to its legal slot size. This is one of the reasons that the author of this article is a catch and release only fishing guide on the Treasure Coast of Florida.
This is the only way to ensure that a healthy population of snook are around for all of us to enjoy. Those large female snook are the breeders that are so much more important to the survival of the species than the much smaller male snook.
The author of this article is a FISHING CHARTER CAPTAIN. He has been fishing the grass flats, oyster bars and mangroves all over Florida for more than 40 years.
In the article below, we will talk about the amazing life cycle of a snook as it faces the environmental challenges to reach maturity.
Let's get started.
Watch the video below to learn more about the life cycle of the snook family of fish.
Yes, all snook are born male and once they reach a length of approximately 22 inches they change sexes. As the male snook gets to be 6 or 7 years old and roughly 2 feet in length they will become females depending upon the environmental pressures of their area.
The term for a fish that changes sexes from male to female is protandrous hermaphrodites. The odds of a snook getting old enough to reach the length of a slot snook (currently 28 to 32 inches), is extremely long.
It is estimated that only 1 out of every 5 million snook eggs that are hatched will ever make it to its legal slot size. This is one of the reasons that the author of this article is a catch and release only fishing guide on the Treasure Coast of Florida.
This is the only way to ensure that a healthy population of snook are around for all of us to enjoy. Those large female snook are the breeders that are so much more important to the survival of the species than the much smaller male snook.
The author of this article is a FISHING CHARTER CAPTAIN. He has been fishing the grass flats, oyster bars and mangroves all over Florida for more than 40 years.
In the article below, we will talk about the amazing life cycle of a snook as it faces the environmental challenges to reach maturity.
Let's get started.
Watch the video below to learn more about the life cycle of the snook family of fish.
How long does it take for the snook to change sexes?
The male snook that make it to a size large enough to change their sexes will reverse their sexes in a very short period of time. This change happens during the fall right after the summer spawning season. Amazingly, this total reverse in the sex of the fish will occur within about 90 days.
The male snook will become a female snook once it starts its transformation in only 3 months. What an amazing adaptation for the snook to have evolved.
Many anglers ask how they can tell the difference between a female and a male snook. It is real easy to do. Just look for the balls. Just kidding!!! There is no visible physical difference between the males and females of the various snook species all over the world.
There are 5 different snook species in Florida and all of them have the same characteristics for both the males and females. They all look exactly the same.
The switch in sexes for the male snook seems to be based on the size of the fish instead of the age of the fish. Some male snook will change to female in a year or two while others may take up to seven years to make the switch over.
In other words, healthy, fast growing snook have the ability to change from male to female much more quickly than fish that are growing more slowly. A slower growth rate can often be attributed to sickness or a lack of potential food resources where that snook it living.
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Conclusion:
There are many species of fish that have a life cycle that includes switching sexes once they reach a certain size or age. The various snook species that live in the state of Florida are one of those species of protandrous hermaphrodites.
Remember the next time that you catch a snook that is a slot sized fish, that it won the lottery of life to reach that size. The odds of that fish reaches that size are more than 5,000,000 to one. That fish beat the odds to grow to that size so treat them with respect and let them keep making those babies for everyone to enjoy catching for many years to come.
Snook are responsible for bringing millions of dollars into the Florida economy. Fishermen from all over the world come to Florida to have a chance to catch these amazing sport fish. The snook is one of the best inshore fighters that exists. That is why they are one of the most popular inshore species of fish that anglers love to target.
Snook are one of my favorite fish to target whether they are the smaller males or the big, huge females of the species. They all fight really hard regardless of their sexes.
I hope that you enjoyed this article and I hope that you catch a ton of fish the next time that you go fishing.
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