Name: Potato grouper, potato bass, brown-marbled reef cod
Scientific Name: Epinephelus tukula (Morgans, 1959)
Family: Serranidae
Group: Bony fish
Class: Fish
Size: 201-400 cm.
These groupers are unmistakable due to their robust body and pallid colouring with spots, which resemble potatoes. The juveniles shelter in tidal pools and as they grow, move to more exposed areas of coral or rocky reefs up to 150 m deep. Here, they occupy a well-defined area and display extremely territorial behaviour. In fact, the largest individuals can become dangerous towards divers, as they do not appear to fear them and may even attack them. Like other serranidae, the potato grouper is hermaphrodite and in the first phase of life, individuals are female, which later, turn into males.
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Global Ocean
