Malabar grouper facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Malabar grouper |
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| A Malabar grouper at uShaka Marine World | |
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The Malabar grouper (Epinephelus malabaricus) is a large fish that lives in the ocean. It is also known by many other names, like blackspot rockcod or greasy grouper. This fish is a type of grouper, which belongs to a family of fish called Serranidae. This family also includes sea basses. You can find the Malabar grouper in the Indo-Pacific region. It has also traveled from the Red Sea into the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal.
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Where Malabar Groupers Live
The Malabar grouper lives in warm, tropical waters. You can find them all over the Indo-West Pacific area. This stretches from the eastern coast of Africa all the way to the Tonga Islands. This area includes the Red Sea.
They were first seen in the eastern Mediterranean Sea in 1969. However, they are still very rare there. They might have arrived in the Mediterranean by hitching a ride on ships. They could also have come from fish farms.
These groupers live in many different places in the ocean. They can be found in lagoons, mangrove areas, and on coral or rocky reefs. They also live on sandy or muddy parts of the seafloor. They can live in water from 2 to 150 meters deep. Young Malabar groupers prefer to live in lagoons or areas where fresh and saltwater mix.
What Malabar Groupers Look Like
The Malabar grouper can grow very big! Some can reach up to 234 centimeters (about 92 inches) long. That's almost 8 feet! But most of them are around 100 centimeters (about 39 inches) long.
Their bodies are usually light grey or light brownish. They have many dark brown spots scattered all over. The older the fish gets, the more spots it has. They also have several brown stripes that go diagonally across their body.
Younger fish have wide, broken dark bands. As they get older, their color tends to become more even and darker. Their tail fin is rounded.
Malabar Grouper Life Cycle
The Malabar grouper is a special kind of fish called a protogynous hermaphrodite. This means that these fish start their lives as females. Then, at some point, they change sex and become males.
Malabar groupers are very hungry hunters. They eat other fish, crustaceans (like crabs and shrimp), and sometimes even cephalopods (like squid).
Fish Parasites
Like most animals, Malabar groupers can have tiny creatures living on or inside them. These are called parasites.
Uses of Malabar Groupers
People catch Malabar groupers for different reasons. They are caught for food, both by commercial fishing boats and by people fishing for sport. Some Malabar groupers are also raised in special fish farms.
Gallery
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A Malabar grouper from the Sudan Coast
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A Malabar grouper from Sabah, Malaysia
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A close-up view of a Malabar grouper
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