Hello again, welcome back to animals under threat. Today,
we will be covering a species of fish that has an unusual name and is under
threat from overfishing and habitat alteration. Please, give a warm welcome to
the Nassau Grouper (Epinephelus striatus).
The Nassau Grouper is a fish that grows to over a meter
in length and weighs around 25kg. It belongs to the Serranidae family that is commonly
refer to as the grouper family. Depend on its environment, this fish can come
to a variety of colours (Sadovy et al, 2018). They mostly live in the Caribbean
Sea and adjacent water and it was once had large populations in the Bahamas. Its
preferred method of hunting is to wait and ambush their prey and swallow them
whole (Oceana, 2019).
Picture
by Oceana website
Nassau Gropers prefer to live in reefs, rocks and ledges
where they can easily find prey and bred. Nassau Gropers live to around 29
years and mature sexually at the age of 4-5 years old. During breeding season,
the Nassau Groper leaves the reef that live in to travel to spawning areas. These
spawning areas are not well known as they tend to be anywhere.
Current known habitat of Nassau Groper by Fisheries.noaa.gov
When it is time
to bred, females will release their eggs first, then the male follows and releases
his sperm. Any fertilized eggs will hatch 2-4 days after floating away to other
areas and will feed on zooplankton until they reach 1-2 months and move to
seagrass areas. When they get larger, they move to reefs in order to survive (Fisheries,
2019).
Picture by Enric Sala
The Nassau Groper is under threat from overfishing and habitat
alteration. The coral that the groper depends on for cover and shelter is
currently been damaged by global warming. This means that the Nassau Groper
cannot camouflage to ambush prey (Sadovy et al, 2018). Overfishing of the
Nassau Groper during breeding season has led to adult morality and increase risk
of genetic loss (Oceana, 2019).
Next time, we will be covering a species of seahorse that
is at risk of bycatch, coastal development and trades.
References
Sadovy, Y., Aguilar-Perera, A. & Sosa-Cordero, E.
2018. Epinephelus striatus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018:
e.T7862A46909843.
https://oceana.org/marine-life/ocean-fishes/nassau-grouper
retrieved 19/11/19
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/nassau-grouper
retrieved 19/11/19
picture references
https://oceana.org/marine-life/ocean-fishes/nassau-grouper
retrieved 19/11/19
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/nassau-grouper
https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/7862/46909843
by Enric Sala
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