Blue Spangled Emperor Fish

Cosmo Blue Spangled Emperor Fish

Blue Spangled Emperor Fish (Lethrinus nebulosus) is a pesky reef fish. Pesky is probably not the perfect word, instead maybe a fish with a little spunk.

On one of the days walking the flats, I kept getting nipped by a fast-moving blue flash while casting to Triggers. From the background of the photo you can tell that we were walking in around a foot or so of water as the tide moved.

They are an extremely colorful fish when you get them out of the water as you can see below. The blue on the face, fins and spots are a dark aquamarine. When they are moving through the water, you don’t always see the blue part so they can look brownish and fit in perfectly with the reef.

I can’t remember how many times they would run in and grab a crab or shrimp fly just before your Trigger or other fish was onto it.

Fast swimming and quick biting. They have some spirit in the shallow reef area. They would be a blast on a 4-weight rod.

Normally, you’d just try to shake them off the line but finally I told Trevor I needed a photo of at least one of the pesky little guys and I brought this 10-inch (the smallest I caught) one in for a quick photo and laugh.

They are found from East Africa, down to Australia, up to Japan and in the Red Sea/Persian Gulf. There are multiple types/colors and are an important food source. It’s a flavorful fish. On some of the nearer shore areas, particularly the Persian Gulf, there has been commercial over-fishing, but the overall population is of a low sustainable concern.

Blue Spangled Emperor Fish

Stepping Back to Look at a FAVORITE Lure

Much Larger YTL Grouper