Atlantic goliath grouper
Epinephelus itajara
Graysby
Cephalopholis cruentata
About
The graysby is a small, stocky grouper that spends its days tucked into reef ledges, growing to about 20 cm, occasionally up to 42.6 cm and over a kilogram.
- Length
- 20 cm · max 42.6 cm
- Weight
- max 1.1 kg
- Depth
- up to 170 m
How to tell it apart
It looks much like other small Caribbean groupers such as the coney, but the graysby carries a row of four contrasting pale or dark spots along its back, right below the base of the dorsal fin.
Appearance
It has a robust, oblong body with a long snout and a slightly protruding upper jaw. The head, body, and fins are grey, brown, or olive, covered all over with small orange-brown spots. A white stripe runs from the tip of the lower jaw, between the eyes, and back to the nape.
Habitat
Graysbys live over seagrass beds and coral reefs, staying close to a hiding place through the day and hunting fish at night. They keep to a small home range and are solitary and secretive by nature, found from the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico north to North Carolina and Bermuda, down to about 170 m.
Did you know?
Despite being a wild predator, graysbys are known to let divers get close, and some can even be fed by hand.
Log it in Into the Blue
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