Pacific cubera snapper (pargo dientón) in Costa Rica

Part of our complete guide: Costa Rica Fish Species: The Complete Guide

The short answer

The Pacific cubera snapper is the heavyweight of Costa Rica's inshore fishing: a thick, copper-and-olive snapper with dog-like fangs that lives on the rocky reefs of the Pacific coast all year and can top 35 kg. Crews call it pargo dientón ("the toothy snapper"). It hits poppers and live bait close to the rocks, then dives straight back into them, which is why anglers come back for it. It isn't protected, but most good crews let the big ones go.

This article goes deeper on this one fish: its names, how to be sure you've got one, where and when each coast fishes best, how local crews catch it, what to keep and the records. For every snapper on both coasts, see our snapper family page, and for every other species, our complete guide to Costa Rica's fish.

Names: dientón, negro, dog or cubera

The fish is Lutjanus novemfasciatus, and the Latin means "nine-banded", after the bars on young fish. In English it's the Pacific dog snapper or Pacific cubera snapper. On a Costa Rican boat you'll hear pargo dientón most, and also pargo negro. The FAO's snapper catalogue lists pargo negro and pargo jilguero as its Costa Rican market names.

Two cautions. First, "pargo prieto" is used for several dark snappers on both coasts, so don't trust it alone. Second, the Caribbean cubera (Lutjanus cyanopterus) is a different species from the other ocean. Costa Rica has both, but never in the same water: the Pacific cubera lives only in the eastern Pacific, from Mexico to northern Peru.

The cubera starts life in brackish water. FishBase says young fish live in mangrove estuaries and river mouths, and MarViva notes that adults can swim up to 20 km up rivers. Adults move out to rocky reefs, from 2 to about 60 m deep, usually 5 to 12 m according to FishBase. MarViva lists it as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, and its diet as octopus, squid, crabs, shrimp and fish.

How to tell a Pacific cubera from other snappers

A big dark snapper hauled up from the rocks isn't always a cubera. These are the fish it gets mixed up with on the Pacific side:

The FAO's description of the cubera is the one to remember: a rounded snout, a squared-off tail, 10 spines in the dorsal fin, and a dark body that can look olive, coppery or almost purple. Young fish have 9 dark bars and black edges on the dorsal and anal fins, and big adults sometimes keep faint bars. The teeth settle it: no other Pacific snapper has fangs like a cubera's.

How big they get

FishBase lists a maximum of 170 cm and a heaviest published weight of 35.7 kg, and MarViva gives 45 kg. MarViva also puts first breeding at about 70 cm total length, which is the most useful number in this article: anything shorter hasn't spawned yet.

Most cubera caught on sport trips here are well short of the giants. Crocodile Bay reports fish over 50 lb in the Golfo Dulce area all year, and Todd Staley, writing for The Tico Times, described his last trip's best fish as 38 lb. The really big ones are seen more often than landed: Staley wrote in 2020 of a fish he put at 90 to 100 lb following his lure in about 25 feet of water.

Where and when, coast by coast

Cubera are caught all year. FishingBooker's monthly table rates snapper fishing strong in every month except October, and calm, clear water near the rocks matters more than the calendar.

Guanacaste

The north's rocky coast and offshore islands are classic cubera ground, and the 1988 world-record fish came from Bahía Pez Vela, near Playa Ocotal. The catch: from December to March the Papagayo winds can blow the outer rocks out of reach, so crews fish sheltered bays on those days. The rocks where crews slow-troll for roosterfish in Guanacaste hold cubera too.

Nicoya and the Central Pacific

On the southern Nicoya Peninsula, the beach pangas list cubera among their inshore catches (more in our panga fishing guide). On the Central Pacific, the rocky points and islands between Jacó and Quepos produce fish, and in 2022 an angler who spends part of each year at Esterillos reported a cubera of over 100 lb from this coast. It was never weighed on a certified scale, so it stays a story, but it shows what lives there.

Southern Pacific

The far south is the best-known cubera coast. The Golfo Dulce's deep, calm water and the reefs off Cabo Matapalo hold big fish close to the forest, and the gulf's mangroves and rivers are the nursery that feeds them. Crocodile Bay in Puerto Jiménez calls April outstanding for record-size cubera and May abundant, and the Zancudo Lodge and the boats of Puerto Jiménez fish the same waters. Our Golfo Dulce guide covers the grounds in detail.

How crews catch them

Poppers at first light

Throwing a big popper or stickbait tight to the rocks at dawn is the most exciting way to meet a cubera. Staley wrote that snapper will rise from 100 feet of water "to take a popper", and the hit is violent. Modern high-speed reels and braided line let anglers do this on much lighter gear than the old 80-lb outfits. Our guide to popping and jigging covers rods, lures and technique.

Live bait near the rocks

The most reliable way to catch the biggest fish is a live bait slow-trolled or drifted along the reef. Staley describes the old way, a live bonito caught that morning, and modern baits of 3 to 5 lb; blue runners and goggle-eyes are favourites. Timing is everything, he explains: the fish needs time to eat the bait, but not enough to reach its cave before the hook is set.

Jigging

Speed jigs and slow-pitch jigs dropped over deeper rock take cubera along with grouper and other snappers. It's the method for days when nothing shows on top.

The fight

A cubera's first run goes straight for the rocks, and many are lost in the first few seconds. Crews fish heavy braid and a long, heavy leader, set the drag tight and steer the boat away from the reef the moment a fish eats. Watch your hands when it comes aboard: those fangs give the fish its name.

Keep or release?

The Pacific cubera isn't a protected species in Costa Rica. Under the fisheries regulation (Decreto 36782), sport anglers can land 5 fish per trip for their own use, and selling a sport catch is banned. INCOPESCA's legal first-capture sizes (AJDIP/026-2018) cover several commercial snappers but we found no figure for the cubera.

So the sensible rule comes from the biology. A cubera under about 70 cm hasn't bred yet, and the giants are mostly old breeding females. Crocodile Bay says its crews generally release the larger fish for that reason. Staley thinks cubera may be making a comeback, helped by the end of shrimp trawling (which caught huge numbers of young bottom fish) and by more captains releasing big fish, though he says it's too early to prove. Our conservation guide explains how releases work.

If you keep one, a cubera of a few kilos is good eating, white and firm, and Costa Rican kitchens fry snapper whole. Choose a mid-sized fish over a giant: the big ones are the breeding stock, and the meat of a smaller fish is better anyway.

Records