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Revision as of 07:50, 14 April 2013

For other uses, see Grouper (disambiguation).

Groupers
Malabar grouper, Epinephelus malabaricus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Actinopterygii
Order:
Perciformes
Family:
Serranidae
Subfamily:
Epinephelinae
Genera

Acanthistius
Alphestes
Anyperidon
Caprodon
Cephalopholis
Chromileptes
Dermatolepis
Epinephelus
Gonioplectrus
Gracila
Hypoplectrodes
Liopropoma
Mycteroperca
Niphon
Paranthias
Plectropomus
Saloptia
Triso
Variola

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 usually given to fish in one of two large genera: Epinephelus and Mycteroperca. In addition, the species classified in the small genera Anyperidon, Cromileptes, Dermatolepis, Gracila, Saloptia and Triso are also called groupers. Fish classified in the genus Plectropomus are referred to as coralgroupers. These genera are all classified in the subfamily Epiphelinae. However, some of the hamlets (genus Alphestes), the hinds (genus Cephalopholis), the lyretails (genus Variola) and some other small genera (Gonioplectrus, Niphon, Paranthias) are also in this subfamily, and occasional species in other serranid genera have common names involving the word "grouper". Nonetheless, the word "groupers" on its own is usually taken as meaning the subfamily Epinephelinae.

Name origin

The word "grouper" comes from the word for the fish, most widely believed to be from the Portuguese name, garoupa. The origin of this name in Portuguese is believed to be from an indigenous South American language.[1][2]

In Australia, the name "groper" is used instead of "grouper" for several species, such as the Queensland grouper (Epinephelus lanceolatus). In the Philippines, it is named lapu-lapu in Luzon, while in the Visayas and Mindanao it goes by the name pugapo. In New Zealand, "groper" refers to a type of wreckfish, Polyprion oxygeneios, which goes by the Māori name hāpuku.[3] In the Middle East, the fish is known as hammour, and is widely eaten, especially in the Persian Gulf region.[4][5]

Description

Groupers are teleosts, typically having a stout body and a large mouth. They are not built for long-distance, fast swimming. They can be quite large, and lengths over a meter and weights up to 100 kg are not uncommon, though obviously in such a large group, species vary considerably. They swallow prey rather than biting pieces off it. They do not have many teeth on the edges of their jaws, but they have heavy crushing tooth plates inside the pharynx. They habitually eat fish, octopuses, and crustaceans. Some species prefer to ambush their prey, while other species are active predators. Reports of fatal attacks on humans by the largest species, the giant grouper (Epinephelus lanceolatus) are unconfirmed .[6]

Their mouths and gills form a powerful sucking system that sucks their prey in from a distance. They also use their mouths to dig into sand to form their shelters under big rocks, jetting it out through their gills. Their gill muscles are so powerful, it is nearly impossible to pull them out of a cave if they feel attacked and extend those muscles to lock themselves in.

Some research indicates roving coralgroupers (Plectropomus pessuliferus) sometimes cooperate with giant morays in hunting.[7]

Reproduction

Groupers are mostly monandric protogynous hermaphrodites, i.e. they mature only as females and have the ability to change sex after sexual maturity.[8][9] Some species of groupers grow about a kilogram per year and are generally adolescent until they reach three kilograms, when they become female. The largest males often control harems containing three to 15 females.[8][10] Groupers often pair spawn, which enables large males to competitively exclude smaller males from reproducing.[8][11][12][13] As such, if a small female grouper were to change sex before it could control a harem as a male, its fitness would decrease.[11][12][13] If no male is available, the largest female that can increase fitness by changing sex will do so.[12]

However, some groupers are gonochoristic.[8] Gonochorism, or a reproductive strategy with two distinct sexes, has evolved independently in groupers at least five times.[8] The evolution of gonochorism is linked to group spawning high amounts of habitat cover.[8][12][14] Both group spawning and habitat cover increase the likelihood of a smaller male to reproduce in the presence of large males. Fitness of male groupers in environments where competitive exclusion of smaller males is not possible is correlated with sperm production and thus testicle size.[10][12][15] Gonochoristic groupers have larger testes than protogynous groupers (10% of body mass compared to 1% of body mass), indicating the evolution of gonochorism increased male grouper fitness in environments where large males were unable to competitively exclude small males from reproducing.[10]

Modern use

Many groupers are important food fish, and some of them are now farmed. Unlike most other fish species which are chilled or frozen, groupers are usually sold live in markets.[16] Many species are popular fish for sea-angling. Some species are small enough to be kept in aquaria, though even the small species are inclined to grow rapidly.

Size

A newspaper reported a 180-kg grouper being caught off the waters near Pulau Sembilan in the Straits of Malacca on Tuesday, 15 January 2008.[17] (Image at [18])

Shenzhen newspaper reported a 1.8-meter grouper swallowed a 1.0-meter whitetip reef shark at the Fuzhou Sea World aquarium.[19]

In September 2010, a Costa Rican newspaper reported a 2.3-meter (7.5 feet) grouper in Cieneguita, Limón. The weight of the fish was 250 kg and it was lured using one kilogram of bait. [20]

Species

Species of grouper include:

Cultural references

References

  1. ^ "Online Etymology Dictionary". Etymonline.com. Retrieved 11 September 2010.
  2. ^ "garrupa - definition and meaning from". Wordnik. Retrieved 11 September 2010.
  3. ^ "Coastal fish - Hāpuku - Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand". Teara.govt.nz. 2 March 2009. Retrieved 11 September 2010.
  4. ^ "Food and Drink – Local Dishes". UAE Interact. Retrieved 12 August 2011.
  5. ^ "Handling hammour". TimeOut Abu Dhabi. 19 January 2009. Retrieved 12 August 2011.
  6. ^ Lieske, E., and R. Myers (1999). Coral Reef Fishes. 2nd edition. ISBN 0-691-02659-9
  7. ^ "Interspecific Communicative and Coordinated Hunting between Groupers and Giant Moray Eels in the Red Sea". Biology.plosjournals.org. Retrieved 11 September 2010.
  8. ^ a b c d e f Erisman, B. E., M. T. Craig and P. A. Hastings. 2009. A phylogenetic test of the size-advantage model: Evolutionary changes in mating behavior influence the loss of sex change in a fish lineage. American Naturalist 174:83-99.
  9. ^ DeMartini, E. E., A. R. Everson and R. S. Nichols. 2011. Estimates of body sizes at maturation and at sex change, and the spawning seasonality and sex ratio of the endemic hawaiian grouper (Hyporthodus quernus, f. Epinephelidae). Fishery Bulletin 109:123-134.
  10. ^ a b c Sadovy, Y. and P. L. Colin. 1995. Sexual development and sexuality in the nassau grouper. Journal of Fish Biology 46:961-976.
  11. ^ a b Allsop, D. J. and S. A. West. 2003. Constant relative age and size at sex change for sequentially hermaphroditic fish. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 16:921-929.
  12. ^ a b c d e Munoz, R. C. and R. R. Warner. 2003. A new version of the size-advantage hypothesis for sex change: Incorporating sperm competition and size-fecundity skew. American Naturalist 161:749-761.
  13. ^ a b Kuwamura, T. 2004. Sex change in fishes: Its process and evolutionary mechanism. Zoological Science 21:1248-1248.
  14. ^ Erisman, B. E., J. A. Rosales-Casian and P. A. Hastings. 2008. Evidence of gonochorism in a grouper, Mycteroperca rosacea, from the Gulf of California, Mexico. Environmental Biology of Fishes 82:23-33.
  15. ^ Molloy, P. P., N. B. Goodwin, I. M. Cote, J. D. Reynolds and M. J. G. Gage. 2007. Sperm competition and sex change: A comparative analysis across fishes. Evolution 61:640-652.
  16. ^ "Most consumers prefer to purchase live groupers in fish markets". Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  17. ^ "Whopper of a grouper bought for RM10,000". Thestar.com.my. 17 January 2008. Retrieved 11 September 2010.
  18. ^ http://thestar.com.my/archives/2008/1/17/nation/19gr.jpg
  19. ^ "海底"血案":巨型石斑鱼一口吞下白鳍鲨". Sznews.com. 30 March 2006. Retrieved 11 September 2010.
  20. ^ Diario La Extra 2010, Marvin Carvajal. "Cayó el más mero en el Caribe".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

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