Plectropomus laevis

Plectropomus laevis
Plectropomus laevis from French Polynesia
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Perciformes
Family: Serranidae
Genus: Plectropomus
Species: P. laevis
Binomial name
Plectropomus laevis
(Lacepède, 1801)
Synonyms[1]

Plectropomus laevis, known commonly as the black-saddled coral grouper or saddle grouper, is a species of groupers belonging to the family Serranidae.[2]

Distribution

This uncommon to rare species is widespread in the Indo-Pacific, from East Africa (Kenya, Mozambique) to the central and southern Pacific, eastward to the Tuamotu Island, north to the Ryukyu Islands, south to Australia, Indian Ocean and islands of western and central Pacific.[3][4] It occasionally makes its way into the aquarium trade.

Habitat

These tropical reef-associated fishes prefer outer coral reef slopes, coral-rich lagoons, channels, and seaward reefs. They are commonly found at depths of 4 to 100 m. Juveniles mainly inhabit shallow lagoons or waters, close to coral reefs.[3]

Description

Juvenile of Plectropomus laevis

P. laevis grows to 125 cm (49 in) in length, but commonly it can reach a length around 80 cm (31 in).[3] These large and long groupers are rather distinctive, but they occur in two color variations. Smaller individuals, females, and young fishes may be pale white with four black markings and yellow fins. Full-grown individuals are usually brown with three or four dark markings and small blue spots with dark edges on the head, body, and fins. Juvenile barred patterns may be retained in a some large fishes.[4] They have seven or eight dorsal spines, 10-12 dorsal soft rays, three anal spines, and eight anal soft rays.[3]

Biology

Adult groupers mainly feed on variety of large fish, but also on crustaceans.[4] Juveniles mainly feed on small fish, crustaceans, and sometimes squid. Spawning occurs in small groups,[4] but sometimes in large aggregations.[3] These fast-growing groupers reach a length of 50 cm in about four years. They are monandric protogynous hermaphrodites.[4]


References

  1. ↑ Catalogue of life
  2. ↑ WoRMS
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Fishbase
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 IUCN Red List

Further reading

  • Fricke, R. (1999) Fishes of the Mascarene Islands (Réunion, Mauritius, Rodriguez): an annotated checklist, with descriptions of new species., Koeltz Scientific Books, Koenigstein, Theses Zoologicae, Vol. 31:759 p.
  • Frisch, Ashley J.; Cameron, Darren S.; Pratchett, Morgan S.; Williamson, David H.; Williams, Ashley J.; Reynolds, Adam D.; Hoey, Andrew S.; Rizzari, Justin R.; Evans, Louisa; Kerrigan, Brigid; Muldoon, Geoffrey; Welch, David J.; Hobbs, Jean-Paul A. (2016). "Key aspects of the biology, fisheries and management of Coral grouper". Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries. doi:10.1007/s11160-016-9427-0. ISSN 0960-3166
  • Heemstra, P.C. and J.E. Randall, 1993.- Groupers of the world (family Serranidae, subfamily Epinephelinae). An annotated and illustrated catalogue of the grouper, rockcod, hind, coral grouper and lyretail species known to date. - FAO Species Catalogue. Vol. 16..
  • Randall, J.E. and P.C. Heemstra (1991) Revision of Indo-Pacific groupers (Perciformes: Serranidae: Epinephelinae), with descriptions of five new species., Indo-Pacific Fishes (20):332 p



This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.