Bluestriped snapper habitat
This species inhabits coral reefs, occurring in both shallow lagoons and on outer reef slopes to depths of at least 60 m (Allen 1985), but occurs to depths of 180 and 265 m at the Marquesas Islands and Red Sea. They are frequently found in large aggregations around coral formation, scaves or wrecks during the day. Juveniles inhabit estuarine seagrass beds around patch reefs (Lieske and Myers 1994). Larger Lutjanus kasmira were reported to occur on shallow reef slopes while smaller individuals inhabit deeper slopes and tongue-and-groove habitats (Friedlander et al. 2002). They feed on fishes, shrimps, crabs, stomatopods, cephalopods, and planktonic crustaceans. This species also takes a variety of algae (Bagnis et al. 1972).
This species was found to display high site-fidelity. Large aggregations of L. kasmira in French Polynesia were formed predominantly by resident individuals with limited local movement, including at night (Vignon et al. 2008).
Spawning occurs throughout most of the year in lower latitudes with peak activity reported for November and December in the Andaman Sea. Eggs measure from 0.78 to 0.85 mm in diameter and hatch in about 18 hours at 22° to 25° C (Allen 1985).
The maximum age of L. kasmira, expressed as mean age in published literature, is 10.2 years. The age of maturity is 3.2 years, the reproductive lifespan (RLS) is estimated at 8 years, and the natural mortality is 0.83 (Martinez-Andrade 2003).
The largest specimen reported is around 40 cm total length (Bykov 1983).
