Lutjanus rufolineatus
Yellow-striped and quietly uncommon, Golden-lined Snapper turns up on Raja Ampat reefs year-round in water around 25-29C.
A slim, torpedo-shaped snapper around 21 cm, easiest to pick out by the row of thin gold-yellow stripes running lengthwise along a pale silvery body. The snout is pointed and the tail slightly forked, typical snapper proportions rather than anything unusual. Look for it hovering close to reef structure rather than out in open water, where the stripes catch the light against the darker coral background.
Divers typically log it hovering near reef structure rather than schooling in open water, staying close to cover where it can duck back into crevices or coral heads. It shows the low-key, unhurried manner typical of small reef snappers, more often noticed by attentive divers scanning ledges than by anyone expecting a big showy encounter. Sightings so far suggest it is a species you find rather than one that finds you.
It belongs to a genus where several species are easy to overlook precisely because they sit still against similarly striped or coloured reef backgrounds, so a slow, close look along ledges and overhangs pays off more than scanning open water.
No clear seasonal pattern shows up in the sighting data, and its comfort range of roughly 25 to 29C spans the year on the reefs where it is found, so it is best treated as a year-round possibility rather than a seasonal target.
Reef neighbours a diver could mistake it for. Use the identification notes above to tell them apart.
Most records come from Raja Ampat in Indonesia, which is the strongest area for this species by a clear margin, with an additional sighting logged in the Visayas region of the Philippines. Treat it as a species worth watching for on Indo-Pacific reef dives rather than something you can target with certainty at any one site.
Mapping where Golden-lined Snapper is logged…
It is most reliably logged in Raja Ampat, Indonesia, with a further sighting from the Visayas region in the Philippines. Outside these areas, records are sparse, so it is not a fish to plan a whole trip around.
There is no detected season in current sighting data, and it favours water between about 25 and 29C, which holds year-round on the reefs where it is found. Any month should give a similar chance of a sighting.
Look for a slender, silvery snapper around 21 cm with fine gold-yellow stripes running along the body from head to tail. It tends to sit near reef structure rather than in open water, which helps separate it from more free-swimming reef fish.
They reach around 21 cm, making them one of the smaller members of the snapper family seen on Indo-Pacific reefs.
No, they pose no known risk to divers and are simply a small reef fish to watch for rather than avoid.
Site and sighting data is aggregated from diver logs, iNaturalist and GBIF. For taxonomy and conservation status:
Emperor
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