Hong Kong grouper
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The Hong Kong grouper (''Epinephelus akaara'') 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 eastern and southeastern Asian waters of the Western Pacific Ocean. Its natural habitats are shallow
sea The sea, connected as the world ocean or simply the ocean, is the body of salty water that covers approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The word sea is also used to denote second-order sections of the sea, such as the Mediterranean Sea, ...
s and coral reefs.


Description

The Hong Kong grouper has a body which has a
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 ...
which is around 2.7-3.2 times the depth of its body. The dorsal profile of the head is convex between the eyes. The preopercle is rounded and serrated with the serrations at its angle enlarged. The dorsal fin contains 11 spines and 15-17 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 ...
has 3 spines and 8 soft rays. The caudal fin is rounded and the
pelvic fin Pelvic fins or ventral fins are paired fins located on the ventral surface of fish. The paired pelvic fins are homologous to the hindlimbs of tetrapods. Structure and function Structure In actinopterygians, the pelvic fin consists of two en ...
does not extend as far as the anus. There are 61-64 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 head and body have a pale brownish grey background colour, with the flanks and back covered with small red, orange or gold spots. There are 6 indistinct diagonal dark bars which can normally be seen on at least towards the back. The first bar is on the nape, the third bar runs through a dark brown or black blotch on the body at base of rearmost 3 spines of the dorsal fin while the final bar is on the caudal peduncle. These dark bars reach the base of dorsal fin. The margin of the dorsal fin is yellow or orange with a line of dusky yellow or orange spots along middle of spiny part of that dorsal fin and another along base of the fin. These rows have one spot on each membrane. The soft part of the dorsal fin as well as the caudal and anal fins have indistinct red or orange spots at their bases and dusky membranes faintly marked with small white spots. The maximum published total length for this species is , although they are more common at around , and the maximum published weight is .


Distribution

The Hong Kong grouper is found in the Western Pacific Ocean. It is found in southern
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
where it occurs in the Tsugaru Strait, the strait between Honshu and Hokkaido south along both coasts. It is also found off Korea,
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
and Taiwan as far as the
Gulf of Tonkin The Gulf of Tonkin is a gulf at the northwestern portion of the South China Sea, located off the coasts of Tonkin (northern Vietnam) and South China. It has a total surface area of . It is defined in the west and northwest by the northern ...
. It may be found off Vietnam but this needs to be confirmed as the lone reported specimen may be a misidentification of ''
Epinephelus fasciatomaculosus ''Epinephelus'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fish, groupers from the subfamily Epinephelinae, part of the family Serranidae, which also includes the anthias and sea basses. They are predatory fish, largely associated with reefs and are fo ...
.'' There are unsubstantiated records from India and the Philippines.


Habitat and biology

The Hong Kong grouper is found in coral and rocky reefs down to depths of at least while juveniles prefer shallower waters than the adults. Around Japan he species is common in rocky areas. Fishermen in Hong Kong report taking this species as spawning adults along the continental shelf in the
East China Sea The East China Sea is an arm of the Western Pacific Ocean, located directly offshore from East China. It covers an area of roughly . The sea’s northern extension between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula is the Yellow Sea, separated b ...
and South China Sea at depths of . Around the Byeonsan Peninsula of the Republic of Korea spawning has been observed in late July and early August. In this area hermaphrodites had a length of measured around while males were . Spawning aggregations have not been confirmed in this species although there are anecdotal reports from Hong Kong of divers encountering groups of up to 50 fishes in close proximity on reefs in the summer, coinciding with the known spawning season. As other fish, the Hong Kong grouper harbours parasites, including, among others, the diplectanid monogenean ''
Pseudorhabdosynochus satyui ''Pseudorhabdosynochus satyui'' is a species of diplectanid monogenean that is parasitic on the gills of the Hong Kong grouper (''Epinephelus akaara''). It was described in 2009. Description ''Pseudorhabdosynochus satyui'' is a small monogenea ...
'' and ''
Pseudorhabdosynochus epinepheli ''Pseudorhabdosynochus epinepheli'' is a diplectanid monogenean parasitic on the gills of species of groupers. It is the type species of the genus '' Pseudorhabdosynochus'' Yamaguti, 1958. Description ''Pseudorhabdosynochus epinepheli'' is a ...
'', parasitic on the gills.


Taxonomy

The Hong Kong grouper was first formally described as ''Serranus akaara'' in 1842 by the Dutch zoologist
Coenraad Jacob Temminck Coenraad Jacob Temminck (; 31 March 1778 – 30 January 1858) was a Dutch people, Dutch Aristocracy (class), aristocrat, Zoology, zoologist and museum director. Biography Coenraad Jacob Temminck was born on 31 March 1778 in Amsterdam in the Dut ...
(1778-1858) and his student, the
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
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 ...
Hermann Schlegel (1804-1884), with the type locality given as Nagasaki.


Utlisation

The Hong Kong grouper is regarded as a species of high commercial value in Hong Kong and Japan. It is usually caught by hand-line over rock strata and the species is often marketed live to increase the price paid.Sadovy, Yvonne and Christine Lee(1998). A Taste for Live Fish: Hong Kong's Live Reef Fish Market. It has been bred in
aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lot ...
but the survival of the hatched larvae is low. By the mid 1990s the wild population was exhausted as a viable fishery.


Conservation

The Hong Kong grouper has no effectively managed stocks. In China there are limits on the gear which can be used but in Hong Kong the fishing is largely unregulated, except a small no take zone where the species may actually be increasing. Hatchery reared larvae are released in Japanese waters but there are no known conservation measures in other parts of its range.


References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q703903 Epinephelus Fish described in 1842 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot