Description

The Nassau grouper is the most important of the groupers for commercial fishery in the West Indies, but has been endangered by overfishing. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the Nassau grouper as critically endangered, due to commercial and recreational fishing and reef destruction. Fishing the species is prohibited in US federal waters. The threats to the grouper include overfishing, fishing during the breeding period, habitat loss, pollution, invasive species, and catching undersized grouper.

The Nassau grouper is a medium to large fish, growing to over a meter in length and up to 25 kg in weight. It has a thick body and large mouth, which it uses to "inhale" prey. Its color varies depending on an individual fish's circumstances and environment. In shallow water (down to 60 ft), the grouper is a tawny color, but those living in deeper waters are pinkish or red, or sometimes orange-red in color. Superimposed on this base color are a number of lighter stripes, darker spots, bars, and patterns, including black spots below and behind the eye, and a forked stripe on the top of the head.

Description

Nassau Grooupers spawn in December and January, always around the time of the full moon, and always in the same locations. By the light of the full moon, huge numbers of the grouper cluster together to mate in mass spawning. The male groupers change color during the spawning, first turning dark, and then, as spawning begins, changing to a dramatic bi-colored phase, with white belly, dark top and a white streak through their eyes.