Nassau Grouper Identification

Video Transcript

"The marine creature we are going to identify now, is the Nassau Grouper. The Nassau Grouper is probably the most common Grouper, that one will see when snorkeling or scuba diving around the waters of the Bahamas, Florida or the Caribbean. They are fairly large, reaching up to three feet in length and weighing in at a maximum of about 50 pounds. They can be identified by the five olive brown regular bars on its body over a light background. But, they can lighten and darken their color at will making positive identification challenging at times. But, the truly distinctive feature that will always be seen on the Nassau Grouper, is the dark saddle at the base of its tail. Nassau Grouper had been an important food fish throughout its range and as a result had been over fished, and is on the endangered species list. Also, making it vulnerable, is the fact that the Nassau Grouper is less shy towards divers and spear fishermen then all of the Groupers. In fact, in many locations there are friendly Nassau Groupers that will approach divers, looking for a little scratch under their chin. The other factor making the Nassau Grouper vulnerable to over fishing, is the fact that they breed in large aggregations. Which means, that males and females gather in large numbers in specific areas at specific times of the year. Usually during a full moon in the winter months of each year and, usually it is December and/or January. Nassau Grouper, other than during spawning, are generally solitary animals and can often be found resting on the bottom of the reef, either under a ledge or in a cave. When on a cleaning station, they will often be seen nearly white in color and often with their mouth wide open, and their gills flared for easy access to those areas for the cleaner fish or shrimp. They feed on lobsters and other fishes. That's the Nassau Grouper."