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✎ Camila Espinosa

✎ Diego Aguilera

Goliath Grouper
Epinephelus quinquefasciatusPacific region

  • Generalities
  • Morpho-functionality
  • Lifecycle
  • Distribution

RECORRIDO VIRTUAL POR LA BIODIVERSIDAD DE COLOMBIA
Museo de Historia Natural
Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Goliath Grouper
Epinephelus quinquefasciatus

Marine fish. Its color varies between pale green, gray, dark yellow or brown. It feeds on other marine animals such as fish, mollusks, and arthropods. The larvae feed on plankton and floating particles. It can be found alone or in groups. They live in depths of up to 100 meters. They can live up to 30 years.

Conservation status

Extinct

Extinct in the Wild

Critically Endangered

Endangered

Vulnerable

Near Threatened

Least Concern

Not Evaluated

Data Deficient

Morpho-functionality

Head

Its skull is not fused, allowing it to expands its mouth (protrusion) and efficiently sucks its prey

Fin

On its dorsal fin it has thickened rays that function as spines and can cause injuries.

Swim bladder

Through the swim bladder the fish can control its buoyancy without using the muscles.

Lifecycle

It is a slow growing and late sexual reproductive species, forming reproductive aggregations of hundreds of individuals. Adults migrate to the mangrove to spawn there. The larvae are camouflaged in the mangrove leaf debris, while the juveniles, of a greenish color, increase their distribution in this space. Here they will live for about five to eight years and later they will move to the rocky or coral formations in brackish waters, where they hide in crevices or caves. The maturation size in this species is estimated to be over 100 cm.

Goliath Grouper

Distribution

Globally, it is located throughout the eastern Pacific of the American coasts from the Gulf of California, Peru and the Revillagigedo and Cocos. It is distributed throughout the Colombian Pacific including Gorgona and Malpelo, inhabiting mangroves and rocky areas. It can be seen occupying sunken vessels and it presents migratory habits due to the reproductive period between the aforementioned ecosystems.

Distribution area