Author: Bloch & Schneider, 1801

Epinephelus malabaricus Bloch & Schneider, 1801

Diagnosis: body elongate. D XI + 14-16; A III + 8; caudal fin rounded. Colour: grey or greenish light brown; five vertical darker bands often bifurcate ventrally, many dark spots on head and trunk, often small whitish spots in adults. Size: to over 90 cm SL.

Habitat: coral reefs, also in estuarine areas and turbid waters. Solitary. Food: fishes, crustaceans, cephalopods. Reproduction: no data.

Distribution: reported (as E. tauvina) from Haifa (Israel) as immigrant into the Mediterranean. Elsewhere, Red Sea, Indian Ocean and Western Pacific.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Subphylum Vertebrata
Superclass Gnathostomata
Class Osteichthyes
Order Perciformes
Suborder Percoidei
Family Serranidae
Genus Epinephelus
Species Epinephelus malabaricus

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Epinephelus malabaricus (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)

Scientific synonyms and common names

Epinephelus malabaricus Bloch & Schneider, 1801

Synonyms:

often misidentified as Epinephelus tauvina (Forsskål, 1775) which is a different species

Eggs, larvae and young stages. No data.
Otoliths (sagitta). Smith, 1950: 501, fig. U 2.

Common name:

malabar grouper [En]

Ben-Tuvia, A.; Lourie, A. 1969. A Red Sea grouper Epinephelus tauvina caught on the Mediterranean coast of Israel. Israel J. Zool., 18: 245-247,1 fig.

Bloch, M. E.; Schneider, J. G. 1801. M. E. Blochii Systema Ichthyologiae iconibus cx illustratum. Post obitum auctoris opus inchoatum absolvit, correxit, interpolavit J. G. Schneider, Saxo. Berolini: Ix+584 pp., 110 pl.

Smith, J. L. B. 1949b. The sea fishes of southern Africa. South Africa, 580 p., 111 pl., 1232 fig. (other editions: 1950, 1953, 1961, 1965, 1970).

You can continue searching for Epinephelus malabaricus on one of these Web sites:

Fauna Europaea (animals) | IOPI (plants) | NCBI (genetic)

Google | Yahoo | MSN | Wikipedia