Black grouper

Mycteroperca bonaci, the black grouper, black rockfish or marbled rockfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a grouper from the subfamily Epinephelinae which is part of the family Serranidae, which also includes the anthias and sea basses. Other fish are sometimes called the black grouper including the similar gag grouper (Mycteroperca microlepis), the misty grouper (Hyporthodus mystacinus), and the warsaw grouper (Hyporthodus nigritus). This species is found in the western Atlantic Ocean from the northeastern United States to Brazil.

Habitat

Mycteroperca bonaci occurs over rocky bottoms and coral reefs at depths of 10 to 30 metres (33 to 98 ft), however in the eastern Gulf of Mexico it is normally encountered at depths of more than 30 metres (98 ft). It is usually a solitary species, the adults feeding mainly on fishes, such as grunts, snapper and herrings, and the juveniles feed on crustaceans. Black groupers have been recorded forming seasonal feeding aggregations along the outer continental shelf off Brazil, these coincide with spawning aggregations of some fish species the groupers prey on. They are monandric protogynous hermaphrodites and form spawning aggregations which have been reported from in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. Females attain sexual maturity at around 5years old and at a length of around 82.6 centimetres (32.5 in) and the change of sex to males occurs when they are around 15 years old and at a mean length of 121.4 centimetres (47.8 in).

Distribution

Mycteroperca bonaci is found in the western Atlantic where its range extends from Cape Canaveral in Florida and Bermuda south to the Bahamas, into the Gulf of Mexico as far north as Alabama and from southern Texas along the coast of Mexico and Cuba. It occurs throughout the Caribbean Sea, along the coast of South America to Santa Catarina in Brazil. Its range extends to the Brazilian islands of Trindade and Fernando de Noronha. There is a gap in its distribution along the northern coast of South America between Paramaribo in Suriname and Maranhão in Brazil. Occurrences in United States waters north to Massachusetts are juveniles and therefore considered vagrants.