[3] Coloration of the mangrove red snapper ranges from burnt orange, to copper, to bronze and dark reddish-brown, depending on its age and environment.

[5] Like other tropical snappers (family Lutjanidae), mangrove jacks have prominent fangs in their jaws that are used for seizing and holding prey, akin to the canine teeth of a mammal.

The red bass, however, is usually darker in coloration, has fewer dorsal-fin spines, scale rows on the back that rise obliquely from the lateral line, and a deep groove from the nostrils to the eyes.

These larger fish are sometimes caught by bottom-fishers with heavy tackle, though they remain difficult to land due to their speed and proximity to sharp reef bottoms.

[6] As ambush predators, they often dwell around mangrove roots, fallen trees, rock walls, and any other snag areas where smaller prey reside for protection.

Spawning occurs during the austral spring-summer seasons in Northeastern Queensland, "[beginning] around October, peaked in December and then declined over summer from January through March.

In Southeast Asia, these fish are aquacultured; the fry are collected from the wild, and reared to market size in brackish-water floating net cages and ponds.

[10] During the turn of the new millennium, efforts were made to improve production of aquacultured mangrove jacks, and the reproductive mechanisms of the fish were discovered, along with effective methods for induced spawning through hormonal injection.