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CHAGUARAMAS WILDLIFE Marine - Grouper |
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Groupers are fish of any of a number of genera in the subfamily Epinephelinae of the family serranidae, in the order Perciformes. Not all serranids are called groupers; the family also includes the sea basses. The common name grouper is usually given to fish in one of two large genera: Epinephelus and Mycteroperca. In addition, the species classified in the small genera Anyperidon, Cromileptes, Dermatolepis, Gracila, Saloptia and Triso are also called groupers. Fish classified in the genus Plectropomus are referred to as coral groupers. These genera are all classified in the subfamily Epiphelinae. However, some of the hamlets (genus Alphestes), the hinds (genus Cephalopholis), the lyretails (genus Variola) and some other small genera (Gonioplectrus, Niphon, Paranthias) are also in this subfamily, and occasional species in other serranid genera have common names involving the word "grouper". Nonetheless, the word "groupers" on its own is usually taken as meaning the subfamily Epinephelinae. Many
groupers are important food fish, and some of them are now famed. Unlike
most other fish species which are chilled or frozen, groupers are
generally sold alive in markets. Any species are popular fish for
sea-angling. |
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Grouper Common Name - Grouper Class - Actinopterygii Family - Serranidae Groupers have a stout body and a large mouth. They are not built for long-distance fast swimming. They can be quite large, and lengths over a meter and weights up to 100 kg are not uncommon. They swallow prey rather than biting pieces off it. They do not have much teeth on the edges of their jaws, but they have heavy crushing tooth plates inside the pharynx. They habitually eat fish, octopus, crab, and lobster. They lie in wait, rather than chasing in open water. Their mouth and gills form a powerful sucking system that sucks their prey in from a distance. They also use their mouth to dig into sand in order to form their shelters under big rocks, jetting it out through their gills. Their gill muscles are so powerful, that it is nearly impossible to pull them out of their cave if they feel attacked and extend them in order to lock themselves in. The word "grouper" comes from Portuguese garoupa, and not from the English word group.
There is at least
one record, from |
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Groupers
and Humans Many groupers are important food fish, and some of them are now famed. Unlike most other fish species which are chilled or frozen, groupers are generally sold alive in markets. Any species are popular fish for sea-angling. Some species can grow very large: there have been reports of them growing big enough to swallow a human bather or even a scuba diver: for example, a diver once wrote that while scuba diving in an inlet on the coast of Sri Lanka he saw a grouper about 20 feet long, and 4 feet thick side to side, living in a sunken floating dock. It could be that the species does not grow that big more often because it needs a big enough shelter to hide from attack by sharks, and that the situation may change if the current worldwide devastation of sharks for the shark-fin trade continues. (There has been a report that the killing of sharks is leading to an increase in the number of groupers and thus a decline in the numbers of parrot fish and thus more algae overgrowing the coral reefs.) There is at
least one record, from |
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Information on this page will be added as more research details are discovered |
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