Mottled Grouper

The mottled grouper has an oblong, compressed body which has a depth which is less than the length of its head, its standard length is 2.8 to 3.2 times its depth. The preopercle has a serrated margin with the serrations being enlarged at its angle, where there is a rounded lobe below an incision into the margin. The dorsal fin contains 11 spines and 15-17 soft rays while the anal fin contains 3 spines and 11-12 soft rays. The caudal fin is truncate in juveniles and subadults but it is concave in adults with a standard length of more than 50 centimetres (20 in). They are usually reddish brown in colour, often mottled with black or pale grey spots and having a black streak above the upper jaw. The juveniles have a black saddle blotch on the caudal peduncle.

The mottle grouper is found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and parts of the Mediterranean Sea. In the eastern Atlantic, it is found from southern Portugal and Spain, along the western coast of Africa as far south as Angola. It was formerly found in the southern Mediterranean from southern Spain and Morocco to Egypt and Israel but it has been expanding its range and is now found as far north as Provence in France and the Adriatic Sea. It is absent from the Black Sea and records from the Macaronesian Islands are misidentifications of Island grouper (Mycteroperca fusca) and records from Brazil are similarly misidentifications of the comb grouper M. acutirostris.