 | Click here to purchase your breathtaking printed copy of the
ANGLER'S GUIDE TO FISHES OF THE GULF OF MEXICO!
This book is a given for recreational and commercial fishermen as well as anyone who loves the outdoors! Since most anglers identify their fish by reviewing illustrations rather than using scientific keys, the authors have succeeded in making fishing easier by providing superb illustrations and detailed diagnostics for fish identification. A valuable, one-stop reference tool for everyday anglers, fisheries experts, biologists, and outdoors writers, this guide includes intensively researched information on 207 species of saltwater fish, essential data on each species’ habitat, identification, typical size, and food value. By Jerald Horst & Mike Lane, illustrated by Duane Raver. 207 species. |
|
| Other Names : | Jewfish, Spotted Jewfish, Giant Sea Bass, Goliath Grouper | | Range & Habitat : | Goliath groupers are found Gulfwide, although apparently no spawning takes place in the northern or western Gulf. These fish form spawning aggregations of a few fish up to 100 fish, which have been found only off the southwest tip of Florida and in the Caribbean. They are now most common in these areas and uncommon elsewhere, although populations appear to be recovering. Very young goliath grouper are found inshore, in mangrove swamps, and even stagnant, brackish-water canals. Mangrove swamps seem to be very important for this life stage of the fish. Goliath grouper are not deepwater fish, almost never being found as deep as 150 feet. They strongly prefer cover such as large rock ledges, shipwrecks, and offshore oil and gas platforms. | | Identification & Biology : | Adult goliath grouper (over 4 feet) are brown in color with darker brown spots on the body and fins. The spots on the tail fin are arranged in dark vertical bars. Young fish are generally lighter in color, with 5 dark vertical bands on the body. Goliath grouper, compared to other groupers, have a flatter head and small, beady eyes. Their fail-sure identifying feature is that all the spines in the spiny part of the dorsal fin are shorter than the soft part of the dorsal fin.
Adult goliath grouper will stake out a territory and show very little inclination to move, except to form spawning aggregations. They live to at least 37 years of age and grow very large, fueled by a diet heavy in crustaceans such as spiny lobsters, crabs, and slipper lobsters. They also eat some fish and at least two studies show sea turtles in their diet. Young goliath grouper also consume quantities of shrimp.
Their large size and territoriality make them very fearless and easy to approach by divers. Spearfishing is thought to be the chief cause of their overharvest from the offshore oil and gas platforms of the northern Gulf of Mexico. Until the 1960s, the recreational harvest of goliath grouper from other areas in the Gulf was quite limited. As the use of LORAN navigational systems spread to recreational fishermen and LORAN coordinates for shipwrecks and reefs were published in books and sportfishing magazines, fishing pressure on the fish increased. They are now under complete protection from harvest. | | Size : | Goliath grouper will grow to over 7 feet in length and 700 pounds. | | Food Value : | None; it is a protected species. | | Description by: Jerald Horst, Associate Professor, Fisheries - LSU AgCenter |
|
