The Gulf grouper (''Mycteroperca jordani'') 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
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
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
.
Description
The Gulf grouper has an elongate, robust and compressed body which is no deeper at the origin of 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 ...
than it as the origin of 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 ...
.
It
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 ...
is 3.1 to 3.4 times its depth. The preopercle is rounded, lacking a lobe, and has a finely serrated margin.
The dorsal fin contains 11 spines and 16-17 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 ...
contains 3 spines and 10-11 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 straight to concave.[ The colour of the adults is normally a uniform dark brown or grey, although they have the ability to quickly change colour and to adopt a pattern resembling that of juveniles. In the larger adults, the margin of the ]pectoral 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 ...
is white and the dorsal, anal and caudal fins have a narrow white edge. The juveniles are greyish brown marked with large, dark grey roughly rectangular blotches on the upper part of the body and fins.[ The maximum published ]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 ...
for this species is and the maximum published weight is .[
]
Distribution
The Gulf grouper is found in the eastern Pacific Ocean where it is endemic to Mexican waters from San Carlos, Baja California Sur
San Carlos, also known as ''Puerto San Carlos'', is a fishing community facing the Pacific Ocean, in Magdalena Bay of Baja California Sur, Mexico. It is located in Comondú Municipality
Comondú is a municipality of the Mexican state of Ba ...
south to Mazatlán
Mazatlán () is a city in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. The city serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding ''municipio'', known as the Mazatlán Municipality. It is located at on the Pacific coast, across from the southernmost tip of ...
. It is found throughout the Gulf of California
The Gulf of California ( es, Golfo de California), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Bermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja Ca ...
and around the Revillagigedos Islands
The Revillagigedo Islands ( es, Islas Revillagigedo, ) or Revillagigedo Archipelago are a group of four volcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean, known for their unique ecosystem. They lie approximately from Socorro Island south and southwest of C ...
. It has been recorded as a vagrant
Vagrancy is the condition of homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants (also known as bums, vagabonds, rogues, tramps or drifters) usually live in poverty and support themselves by begging, scavenging, petty theft, temporar ...
off San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
in the 1940s and 1950s. Abundance of the Gulf Grouper has declined significantly since the mid-20th century due to commercial fishing. According to the NOAA fisheries
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), informally known as NOAA Fisheries, is a United States federal agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that is responsible for the stew ...
, Bahía Magdalena has the only known population of Gulf Groupers along the coast of the Baja California peninsula.
Habitat and biology
The Gulf grouper is found over rocky reefs, kelp beds and sea mounts. The adults are normally found at depths between but has been recorded as deep as during the summer months, and even as deep as on reefs. The juveniles are found in shallow rocky reefs and 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, and also in estuaries, mangroves and bays around the islands and along the northern and central coastlines of the Gulf of California. They have been reported to prey on juvenile hammerhead shark
The hammerhead sharks are a group of sharks that form the family Sphyrnidae, so named for the unusual and distinctive structure of their heads, which are flattened and laterally extended into a "hammer" shape called a cephalofoil. Most hammerhe ...
s.[ The more usual prey is other fish, ]lobster
Lobsters are a family (biology), family (Nephropidae, Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae) of marine crustaceans. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs ...
s and slipper lobster
Slipper lobsters are a family (Scyllaridae) of about 90 species of achelate crustaceans, in the Decapoda clade Reptantia, found in all warm oceans and seas. They are not true lobsters, but are more closely related to spiny lobsters and furry lo ...
s. It is thought that these fish attain sexual maturity at six to seven years when they are around in total length. The adults form spawning
Spawn is the eggs and sperm released or deposited into water by aquatic animals. As a verb, ''to spawn'' refers to the process of releasing the eggs and sperm, and the act of both sexes is called spawning. Most aquatic animals, except for aquati ...
aggregations numbering more than 40 in the period from April to June. In the southern Gulf of California these aggregations cover areas larger than . The aggregations have been recorded over rocky reefs or around seamounts where there are steep drop-offs and numerous of gorgonians and black coral
Antipatharians, also known as black corals or thorn corals, are an order of soft deep-water corals. These corals can be recognized by their jet-black or dark brown chitin skeletons, surrounded by the polyps (part of coral that is alive). Antip ...
. Aggregations have also been recorded over sandy substrates next to reefs. They spawn in pairs and a male will pair with a number of females. There are around three to five females for each male. This species is thought to be a 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, ...
as the males are normally considerably larger than females, the sex ratios are weighted towards females, they spawn as pairs, the males are aggressively territorial
A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal.
In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...
and there is no evidence of sperm competition
Sperm competition is the competitive process between spermatozoa of two or more different males to fertilize the same egg during sexual reproduction. Competition can occur when females have multiple potential mating partners. Greater choice and ...
.
Behavior and Diet
Gulf groupers at a young age tend to prey on different types of fish and invertebrates such as crabs and shrimp. As Gulf Groupers mature, they tend to primarily prey on different fish species. Mature adults tend to hunt during dawn and dusk when the sun is not too bright on the water. According to scientists a
NOAA fisheries
the Gulf grouper has a large mouth to completely swallow prey whole and the size of their mouth determines the type of fish that they consume. Mature Gulf groupers like to stay in hideouts outside of the reproduction period of the year. Reproduction period starts in April and ends in June where they gather in packs to form spawning areas that are typically in reefs.
Lifespan and Reproduction
The Gulf grouper typically lives for about 48 years. Female Gulf groupers become sexually mature at 6 years old when they can start reproducing offspring. The Gulf grouper is known as being protogynous hermaphroditic, which is when an organism matures as a female but later transitions into a male or vice versa. The Gulf grouper aggregate into larger groups once a year to form spawning grounds for reproduction. The groupers at maturity like to inhabit rocky reefs and different kinds of structure from 16 to 100 feet down. The juvenile gulf groupers stay closer to the shallow coast such as the mangroves.
Taxonomy
The Gulf grouper was first formally described as ''Epinephelus jordani'' in 1889 by the American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
academic Oliver Peebles Jenkins Oliver Peebles Jenkins (born Bantam, Ohio November 3, 1850; died Palo Alto, California January 9, 1935) was an American physiologist and histologist, mainly associated with Stanford University.
Career
Jenkins graduated from Moores Hill College (no ...
(1850-1935) and the 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 ...
Barton Warren Evermann
Barton Warren Evermann (October 24, 1853 – September 27, 1932) was an American ichthyologist.
Early life and education
Evermann was born in Monroe County, Iowa in 1853. His family moved to Indiana while he was still a child and it was ...
(1853-1932) with the type locality given as Guaymas
Guaymas () is a city in Guaymas Municipality, in the southwest part of the state of Sonora, in northwestern Mexico. The city is south of the state capital of Hermosillo, and from the U.S. border. The municipality is located on the Gulf of Califo ...
in the state of Sonora
Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is d ...
in western Mexico. 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 the American ichthyologist David Starr Jordan
David Starr Jordan (January 19, 1851 – September 19, 1931) was the founding president of Stanford University, serving from 1891 to 1913. He was an ichthyologist during his research career. Prior to serving as president of Stanford Univer ...
(1851-1931).
Utilization and threats
The Gulf grouper is considered to be one of the most valuable groupers caught in the Gulf of California by commercial and recreational fisheries. It is thought that overfishing has caused the population to decline by at least 50% over the past 80 years, or so, and so the IUCN
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...
have listed it as Endangered
An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...
. The Gulf grouper population suffers due to toxic chemical runoff such as a gas spill that can greatly affect the water quality for the fish. Contaminants in the water can get into the gills of the groupers and cause great risk to the health of the groupers. Over time the habitats of the Gulf grouper have been degraded because of pollution and commercial activities. Reefs play an important role in the reproduction process for the Gulf grouper, but the increase in offshore developments have restricted the Gulf grouper from getting to spawning grounds. The Gulf grouper needs a healthy reef to help to support the juvenile gulf grouper so they can grow efficiently. Recreational fishermen sometimes capture the gulf grouper on accident that can cause the fish to possibly get injured. In some cases, the injuries received from recreational fishermen to the gulf grouper can result in the grouper dying.
Conservation efforts
Restrictions have been placed on fishermen being able to fish for the Gulf grouper because the species is seen as Endangered by the IUCN
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...
. Fishing for the Gulf grouper species is prohibited in the United States. Scientists that are part of the NOAA
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...
have gone to implement different ways to improve the quality of the habitats that are meant to support the Gulf grouper. The Magnuson-stevens fishery conservation and management act is supported by the NOAA
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...
to conserve fish habitats in the United States federal waters.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2109519
Mycteroperca
Endemic fish of Mexico
Fish described in 1889
Taxa named by Oliver Peebles Jenkins
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot