''Epinephelus andersoni'', the catface grouper, brown-spotted grouper, catface rockcod or brown spotted rockcod, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a grouper 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 which is part of the family Serranidae, 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 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 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 maxillary 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 is and the maximum recorded weight is .

Distribution

''Epinephelus andersoni'' is endemic 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 The De Hoop Marine Protected Area lies between Arniston and the mouth of the Breede River on the south coast of South Africa adjacent to the De Hoop Nature Reserve. The MPA is 51 kilometres long, and extends 5 nautical miles to sea. The who ...

but it is rare south of Knysna.

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 reefs. 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. This species is a relatively slow-growing, diandric protogynous hermaphrodite, 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, crustaceans 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 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