Monday, November 18, 2019

Species Profile: Nassau Groper


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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