Malabar grouper

Malabar grouper, also referred to as the estuary cod, greasy cod, spotted river cod or estuary rock cod, is an Indo-Pacific

Indo-Pacific

The Indo-Pacific is a biogeographic region of the earth's seas, comprising the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the seas connecting the two in the general area of Indonesia...

 species of fish in the family Serranidae

Serranidae

Serranidae is a large family of fishes, belonging to the order Perciformes. The family contains about 450 species of serranids in 64 genera, including the sea basses and the groupers...

.

Red Sea

Red Sea

The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez,...

, south to South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...

, as far as Southeast Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...

 and south Japan

Japan

is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

.

The Malabar Grouper (Epinephelus malabaricus) is one of the largest and most common cod found in tropical estuaries and on coastal reefs.

Malabar grouper, also referred to as the estuary cod, greasy cod, spotted river cod or estuary rock cod, is an Indo-Pacific

Indo-Pacific

The Indo-Pacific is a biogeographic region of the earth's seas, comprising the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the seas connecting the two in the general area of Indonesia...

 species of fish in the family Serranidae

Serranidae

Serranidae is a large family of fishes, belonging to the order Perciformes. The family contains about 450 species of serranids in 64 genera, including the sea basses and the groupers...

.

Range

Red Sea

Red Sea

The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez,...

, south to South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...

, as far as Southeast Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...

 and south Japan

Japan

is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

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Description

The Malabar Grouper (Epinephelus malabaricus) is one of the largest and most common cod found in tropical estuaries and on coastal reefs. It can reach a length of over 1.2m and weigh over 150kg. The Malabar Grouper is olive-green with a number of brown spots randomly scattered. Younger fish have a number of wide, broken vertical bands of darker shade across their bodies, but in maturity they seem to become a uniform darker colour. Young fish have numerous brown spots. The tail fin is rounded.

Diet

A voracious predator feeding on fish

Fish

A fish is any aquatic vertebrate animal that is typically ectothermic , covered with scales, and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins...

, crustacean

Crustacean

Crustaceans are a very large group of arthropods, comprising almost 52,000 described species , and are usually treated as a subphylum . They include various familiar animals, such as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles...

s and occasionally cephalopod

Cephalopod

{Taxobox| name = Cephalopods| fossil_range = | image = Tafel 054 300.jpg| image_caption = A variety of cephalopod forms from Ernst Haeckel's 1904 Kunstformen der Natur| regnum = Animalia| image_width = 220px| phylum = Mollusca| classis = Cephalopoda...

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