The Malabar grouper (''Epinephelus malabaricus'') also known as blackspot rockcod, estuary rockcod, giant rock cod, greasy grouper, Malabar rockcod, Morgan's cod or speckled grouper, 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 h ...

, 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 ...

from the subfamily

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 ...

which is part of the

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

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 ca ...

, which also includes the anthias and sea basses. It is found in the Indo-Pacific region. It has entered the Mediterranean Sea from the Red Sea by way of the Suez Canal as a Lessepsian migrant.

Distribution and habitat

The Malabar grouper is widespread throughout the

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

waters of the

Indo-West Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

area from the eastern coast of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

to the Tonga Islands,

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; ...

included. It was first recorded in the eastern

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

in 1969 where it remains extremely rare. Mariculture and shipping are possible vectors of introduction.Atlas of Exotic Fishes in the Mediterranean Sea (Epinephelus malabaricus). 2nd Edition. 2021. 366p. CIESM Publishers, Paris, Monaco.https://ciesm.org/atlas/fishes_2nd_edition/Epinephelus_malabaricus.pdf This grouper lives in various habitats, such as

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') ...

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in severa ...

s, coral and rocky reefs, sandy and muddy bottom areas,van der Elst, R.P. and F. Adkin (eds.), 1991. Marine linefish: priority species and research objectives in southern Africa. Oceanogr. Res. Inst., Spec. Publ. No.1. 132 p. between 2 and 150 m deep.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. The juveniles prefers lagoon or brackish areas.

Description

The Malabar grouper can reach a length up to 234 cm (92 in), but average size is usually around 100 cm (39 in).Fischer, W., I. Sousa, C. Silva, A. de Freitas, J.M. Poutiers, W. Schneider, T.C. Borges, J.P. Feral and A. Massinga, 1990. Fichas FAO de identificaçío de espécies para actividades de pesca. Guía de campo das espécies comerciais marinhas e de águas salobras de Moçambique. Publicaçao preparada em collaboraçao com o Instituto de Investigaçao Pesquiera de Moçambique, com financiamento do Projecto PNUD/FAO MOZ/86/030 e de NORAD. Roma, FAO. 1990. 424 p. It has a light grey to light brownish background color, with a number of dark brown spots randomly scattered, which increase in number with age. The body has also a various number of brown diagonal stripes. Younger fish have a number of wide, broken vertical bands of darker shade across their bodies, but in maturity they seem to become a uniform darker colour. Young fish have numerous brown spots. The tail fin is rounded.

Biology

''Epinephelus malabaricus'' is 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 these fishes at some point in their lifespan change sex from female to male. Malabar grouper are voracious predators, they feed on

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...

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 can ...

s, and occasionally, cephalopods.Lieske, E. and R. Myers, 1994. Collins Pocket Guide. Coral reef fishes. Indo-Pacific & Caribbean including the Red Sea. Harper Collins Publishers, 400 p.

Parasites

As most fish, the Malabar grouper harbours a variety of

parasites Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson ha ...

, including the diplectanid

monogenea Monogeneans are a group of ectoparasitic flatworms commonly found on the skin, gills, or fins of fish. They have a direct lifecycle and do not require an intermediate host. Adults are hermaphrodites, meaning they have both male and female repro ...

ns '' Pseudorhabdosynochus manifestus'', '' P. maaensis'', '' P. malabaricus'', '' P. manipulus'', '' P. marcellus'', and '' P. maternus''.Justine, Jean-Lou, and Aude Sigura. "Monogeneans of the malabar grouper ''Epinephelus malabaricus'' (Perciformes, Serranidae) off New Caledonia, with a description of six new species of ''Pseudorhabdosynochus'' (Monogenea: Diplectanidae)." Zootaxa 1543 (2007): 1–44
Abstract
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Uses

Malabar groupers are harvested for food, sport, and commercially; some are grown in aquaculture.

Gallery

File:Serranidae - Epinephelus malabaricus.jpg, ''Epinephelus malabaricus'' from Sudan Coast File:Malabar Grouper (Epinephelus malabaricus) (8502057283).jpg, ''Epinephelus malabaricus'' from Sabah, Malaysia File:Malabar grouper melb aquarium.jpg, Close-up File:A Malabar rockcod (Epinephelus malabaricus) in UShaka Sea World.webm, Video clip

References

External links

Biolib

Sous les Mers
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1824230 Epinephelus Fish of Thailand Fish of the Red Sea Fish described in 1801 Articles containing video clips