Camouflage Grouper

Epinephelus polyphekadion is a species of marine fish in the family Serranidae. The Camouflage grouper is widespread throughout the tropical waters of the Indo-Pacific area from the eastern coast of Africa to the French Polynesia and it's also present in the Red Sea. Its natural habitats are open seas, shallow seas, subtidal aquatic beds, coral reefs, rocky shores, and coastal saline lagoons.

Description

It is a pale brown covered in small dark brown spots, the upper body is whitish with the white being broken up by large dark blotches which resemble diagonal bands. There is a dark saddle-like blotch on the upper part of the base of the caudal fin. The area between the eyes is flat while the dorsal profile of the head is convex. The preopercle rounded with the serrations at its corner slightly enlarged and the gill cover has a distinctly convex upper edge.

The fourth spine in the dorsal fin is longer than the others and the membranes between the dorsal fin spines are slightly notched. The caudal fin is rounded in shape.

The camouflage grouper attains a maximum total length of 90 centimetres (35 in).

This species is frequently misidentified, the confusion species being Flowery Rockcod (Epinephelus fuscoguttatus).

Distribution

The camouflage grouper has a wide Indo-Pacific distribution. Its range extends from the coast of East Africa from the Red Sea south to Mozambique, eastwards across the Indian Ocean where it is found around the Comoros, British Indian Ocean Territory, Mauritius and the Seychelles and east into the Pacific Ocean as far as French Polynesia. In the Pacific its range extends north to southern Japan and south as far as Australia. In Australia it is found from Shark Bay and Scott Reef in Western Australia around the northern coast to One Tree Island in Queensland. It is also found around reefs and islands in the Coral Sea and the Tasman Sea.

Habitat

The camouflage grouper is found in lagoons and outer reefs in shallow water in areas which are rich in coral and is more numerous around islands, especially atolls. It also likes to have caves and crevices in the reefs to swim through. It is normally found in small schools but it can be a solitary species. It prefers areas where the water is clear. This is a predatory species which preys largely on crustaceans, especially portunid crabs, and fishes, occasionally on cephalopods and gastropods. It is thought to be gonochoristic and hermaphroditism is still to be demonstrated for this species. It reaches sexual maturity at around 4 years of age and can live for up to 42 years. They form spawning aggregations and individuals are known to follow regular migratory routes to reach these aggregations.