Brown-Marbled Grouper

Epinephelus fuscoguttatus is a medium-sized fish which grows up to 120 cm, but the average size mostly observed is 50 cm. Its body has a stocky and robust aspect, is compressed laterally, and has a sharp profile for the head. The mouth is big and has a superior position with many small teeth and canines in front. The background coloration is pale yellowish-brown with many dark brown or grey blotches that are irregular in size and shape. The body is also covered with many small, dark brown spots. All the fins are large and round.

It is widely distributed throughout the tropical and subtropical waters of the Indo-Pacific, from the eastern coasts of Africa to the oceanic islands of the centre of the Pacific Ocean, Red Sea included. However, it is absent from the Persian Gulf, Hawaii, and French Polynesia.

Like many of the groupers, the brown-marbled grouper lives in rich clear waters close to coral or rocky reefs, lagoons, and external slopes from the surface until 60 metres (200 ft) depth.

The brown-marbled grouper is carnivorous and its diet consists mainly in fishes, crustaceans and cephalopods. It is an ambush predator.

This grouper is solitary and sedentary; it defends a well-defined territory, benthic, and is nocturnal, with activity maximal at sunrise and/or at sunset.

It has a quite long life span for a fish and is expected to live until at least 40 years old.

It is a protogynous hermaphrodite, which means the female can evolve into a male during its life.