''Epinephelus andersoni'', the catface grouper, brown-spotted grouper, catface rockcod or brown spotted rockcod, is a species of marine

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or hor ...

, a

grouper 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 u ...

from the

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...

Epinephelinae 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 u ...

which is part of the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Serranidae The Serranidae are a large family of fishes belonging to the order Perciformes. The family contains about 450 species in 65 genera, including the sea basses and the groupers (subfamily Epinephelinae). Although many species are small, in some case ...

, which also includes the

anthias Anthias are members of the family Serranidae and make up the subfamily Anthiinae. Anthias make up a sizeable portion of the population of pink, orange, and yellow reef fishes seen swarming in most coral reef photography and film. The name Anthi ...

and sea basses. It is found in the southwestern Indian Ocean where it is associated with reefs.

Description

''Epinephelus andersoni has an elongate body with a relatively shallow body depth which fits into its

standard length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies. These data are used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fisheries biology. Overall length * Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish m ...

3.2 to 3.7 times. The preopercle is angular and the serrations at its and are somewhat enlarged. The

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through conv ...

contains 11 spines and 13–15 soft rays while the

anal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...

has 3 spines and 8 soft rays. The

caudal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...

is clearly rounded. There are 66–74 scales in the

lateral line The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelial ...

. The background colour of the head, body, and fins is brown, the body, caudal fin and dorsal fins are densely marked with irregular, small, dark brown spots. There are 2 dark brown stripes one of which runs from the eye across the gill cover while the other runs from the from

maxilla The maxilla (plural: ''maxillae'' ) in vertebrates is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. The t ...

ry groove to the lower margin of the preopercle. The juveniles are marked with horizontal dark stripes which dissolve into spots as they approach the caudal peduncle. They also have a black blotch at base of rearmost spines in the dorsal fin and 2 small black spots at base of soft-rayed part of the dorsal fin with a third spot on the upper part of the caudal peduncle. Between each of these black blotches there are 4 or 5 white spots. The maximum recorded

total length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies. These data are used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fisheries biology. Overall length * Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish ...

is and the maximum recorded weight is .

Distribution

''Epinephelus andersoni'' is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the southwestern Indian Ocean where it occurs off the coast of southeastern Africa. Its distribution extends from Zavala, Mozambique to the Western Cape Province of South Africa. It has been recorded as far south as the De Hoop Marine Protected Area but it is rare south of

Knysna Knysna () is a town with 76,150 inhabitants (2019 mid-year estimates) in the Western Cape province of South Africa. and is one of the destinations on the loosely defined Garden Route tourist route. It lies at 34° 2' 6.3168'' S and 23° 2' 47. ...

Habitat and biology

''Epinephelus andersoni'' is rarely recorded from coral reefs and is more associated with shallow rocky reefs down to . This species is among the pioneer species of predatory fish when new habitats are created, such as shipwrecks or

artificial reef An artificial reef is a human-created underwater structure, typically built to promote marine life in areas with a generally featureless bottom, to control erosion, block ship passage, block the use of trawling nets, or improve surfing. Many re ...

s. The adults undertake short migrations or explorations which allows them to colonise reefs which have no existing large predatory fish. As they grow the juveniles move away from reefs in the surf zone towards reefs in deeper water. Once settled the adults are largely sedentary although juveniles may move as much as . Before sexual maturity the fish migrate northwards and spawning has not been recorded south of

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

. This species is a relatively slow-growing, diandric

protogynous hermaphrodite Sequential hermaphroditism (called dichogamy in botany) is a type of hermaphroditism that occurs in many fish, gastropods, and plants. Sequential hermaphroditism occurs when the individual changes its sex at some point in its life. In particular, ...

, this means that some males are change sex from functional females, but others develop into males from non-reproductive juveniles, and the sex ratio is not as female-biased as in protogynous hermaphrodites where all fish sexually mature as females before some change into males, known as monandric. The testicular structure of individual males which change sex from female is different from that of the males which developed from juveniles. The breeding season runs from September to February off

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...

. This species is a predatory fish which feeds on other fishes,

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...

s and

squid True squid are molluscs with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight arms, and two tentacles in the superorder Decapodiformes, though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also called squid despite not strictly fitting t ...

Taxonomy

''Epinephelus andersoni'' was first formally described in 1903 by the Belgian– British

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish ( Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of Octobe ...

George Albert Boulenger George Albert Boulenger (19 October 1858 – 23 November 1937) was a Belgian-British zoologist who described and gave scientific names to over 2,000 new animal species, chiefly fish, reptiles, and amphibians. Boulenger was also an active botani ...

(1858–1937) with the type locality being given as the Colony of Natal. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

honours Alexander Anderson of Durban, a fish dealer, who brought the

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular wiktionary:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to a ...

to London for Boulenger to describe.

Utilisation

''Epinephelus andersoni'' is caught using handlines and fishing rods from small boats and the commercial fishery is managed by a total allowable effort limitation in South Africa. For recreational fishers there is a bag limit of 5 fish per person per day and a minimum length of .

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2194332 andersoni Marine fish of Southern Africa Marine fish of South Africa Taxa named by George Albert Boulenger Fish described in 1903 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot