Don't Smoke That Fish, It's A Tobacco Bass

If you're looking for a nice addition to your reef tank, why not try the Tobacco Bass, Serranus tabacarius (Cuvier & Valenciennes). This predominantly orange-ish fish comes from the reefs approximately fifteen to 130 feet in depth.

The Tobacco Bass grows to a size of three to four and one-half inches total length. There have been reports of them getting as large as seven inches. Found throughout the Caribbean, the Bahamas and Florida, the Tobacco Bass is rarely found in the home aquarium simply because there are so many more colorful fishes available to the average hobbyist. It is occasionally reatured as a novelty item at our local fish shops.

Named by Cuvier and Valenciennes because of its tobacco yellow color, it really varies from brownish-orange to bright orange particularly along the middle of the fish. The tail is often darkly bordered. Juvenile markings of the Tobacco Bass tend to be more distinct. There are a series of yellow, white or salmon colored blotches along the back.

Serranus tabacarius is a member of the seabass family, Serranidae, and as such you need to be aware that this is an aggressive eater of both small fishes and crustaceans. Since most of us do not keep aggressive fish with small crustaceans and tiny fish, this presents no problems to the average aquarist. It readily takes brine shrimp, oh, what the heck, it's a ravenous eater and will eat anything it can get in its mouth.

Since in the wild S. tabacarius swims along the reefs and the adjacent areas of sand and coral rubble, you will find it generally cruising the tank at an inch or two off the bottom. They adapt well to the small tank environment and soon become quite tame as they vie for food at dinner time.

If you haven't tried a small seabass in your tank, give the Tobacco Bass a try, but please don't smoke it.

Works Cited:
Axelrod, Herbert R. Dr. & Emmens, Cliff W. Dr. 1985. Exotic Marine Fishes, Seventh Edition. TFH, Neptune City, NJ, USA.
Humann, Paul 1989. Reef Fish Identification, New World Publications; Jacksonville, FL, USA.
Freshwater and Marine Aquarium Magazine, March 1987, pp 52,54.