Epinephelus morio
Collection Details
Specimens
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Serranidae (Sea Basses and Groupers)
Epinephelus
Epinephelus morio (Red Grouper)
Description
This species account was compiled from
Composite (multiple sources) (McEachran, J.D. and J.D. Fechhelm. Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. University of Texas Press, Austin.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
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Characters
Pelvic fin origin below or behind pectoral fin base, pelvic fin shorter than pectoral fin, and dorsal fin membrane unnotched between spines. Maxilla extends to posterior margin of orbit, with ventral margin smoothly curved and lacking step or bony knob. Supramaxilla is well developed. Teeth in front of jaws are small canines. Preoperculum is subangular, with posterior margin serrate and serrae at angle enlarged. Dorsal margin of operculum is straight. Gill rakers on first arch number 23 to 25, with 8 or 9 on upper limb and 15 or 16 on lower limb. Measurements are expressed as percent of SL: head length 40%–43%, body depth 33%–38%. Pectoral fin is broadly rounded and has 16 to 18 rays. Dorsal fin has 11 spines and 16 or 17 rays, with second or third spine longest. Anal fin has 8 to 10 rays. Caudal fin is convex in specimens less than 15 cm SL and truncate to slightly concave in larger specimens. Lateral body scales are ctenoid and have auxiliary scales. Lateral line scales number 60 to 68, and scales in horizontal series number 112 to 128.
Head and body are dark reddish brown dorsally and laterally, and pink to reddish ventrally. Rayed section of dorsal fin and anal and caudal fins are dark distally, with white margin. Inside of mouth is bright reddish brown. Body occasionally has irregular white spots or blotches.
Distribution
Western Atlantic from North Carolina and Bermuda to southern Brazil, including the Gulf of Mexico, the Bahamas, and the Greater and Lesser Antilles.
Found throughout the Gulf of Mexico.
Habitat Associations
Between the shore and 300 m. Adults occur in 50 to 300 m on soft bottoms.
Juveniles are found in shallow sea-grass beds and inshore reefs.
Biology
Food consists of invertebrates and ray-finned fishes.
Maximum known size is 90 cm TL. Maximum known age is 25 years.
Spawning takes place from April to May in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Fecundity ranges from 312,000 to 5,735,700 eggs. Females mature at about 45 cm SL, at 4 to 6 years of age, and transform to males at about 50 cm SL, at 7 to 14 years of age.
Adults occur mainly over rocky and muddy bottoms. Uncommon around coral reefs. Usually rest on the bottom (Ref. 9710). Juveniles may be found in shallow water, but adults are usually taken from depths of 70-330 m (Ref. 13442). Feed on a wide variety of fishes and invertebrates. Are protogynous hermaphrodites (Ref. 55367). Most females transform to males between ages 7 to 14. Susceptible to red tide toxin (Ptychodiscus brevi) (Ref. 5222). Marketed fresh or frozen. The world record for hook and line, 39 lbs., from Cape Canaveral, Florida (Ref. 13442).
IUCN Red List Status: Vulnerable (VU), assessed 2016-11-20. Resilience: Medium (K=0.1-0.18; tm=4-6; tmax=25; Fec=1.4 million).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: commercial; gamefish; aquarium: public aquariums.
References
Longley and Hildebrand 1941
Böhlke and Chaplin 1968
Moe 1969
Smith 1971
Smith 1997
Hastings et al. 1976
Hastings 1979
Matsuura 1983a
Robins and Ray 1986
Bullock and Smith 1991
Cervigón 1991 (as E. [Epinephelus] morio)
Boschung 1992
Heemstra and Randall 1993
Schaldach et al. 1997
Castro-Aguirre et al. 1999
Smith-Vaniz et al. 1999
Heemstra 2002c
Randall, J.E. (1967) Food habits of reef fishes of the West Indies. Stud. Trop. Oceanogr. Miami 5:665-847.
Heemstra, P.C. and J.E. Randall (1993) FAO Species Catalogue. Vol. 16. Groupers of the world (family Serranidae, subfamily Epinephelinae). An annotated and illustrated catalogue of the grouper, rockcod, hind, coral grouper and lyretail species known to date. Rome: FAO. FAO Fish. Synop. 125(16):382 p.
Randall, J.E. (1996) Caribbean reef fishes. Third Edition - revised and enlarged. T.F.H. Publications, Inc. Ltd., Hong Kong. 3nd ed. 368 p.
Claro, R. (1994) Características generales de la ictiofauna. p. 55-70. In R. Claro (ed.) Ecología de los peces marinos de Cuba. Instituto de Oceanología Academia de Ciencias de Cuba and Centro de Investigaciones de Quintana Roo.
Gómez-Canchong, P., L. Manjarrés M., L.O. Duarte and J. Altamar (2004) Atlas pesquero del area norte del Mar Caribe de Colombia. Universidad del Magadalena, Santa Marta. 230 p.
Craig, M.T., YJ. Sadovy de Mitcheson and P.C. Heemstra (2011) Groupers of the world: a field and market guide. North America: CRC Press/Taylor and Francis Group, xix, 356 p., A47 pages appendix. DOI: 10.1201-/9780429087899
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