lautnusantara.com - Brown-marbled grouper or Epinephelus fuscoguttatus is a marine fish that has medium to large-sized body. This fish can grow up to 120 cm, but the most common size is 50 cm long. Their body has stocky and robust aspect, is compress laterally and has a sharp profile for the head. This fish has a big mouth with superior position and filled with many small teeth in the front. The body color is pale yellowish or brown with many irregular in size and shape dark brown or Grey dots. All of their fin is large and round.

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The brown-marbled grouper can be easily mistaken for their close relative, the Camouflage Grouper or Epinephelus polyphekadion. Their young indeed look similar, but the differences are more noticeable on adult fish. The distinctive characters of the brown-marbled grouper are a small black saddle on the top of their caudal fin, when observed on the side a notch above the eyes and front head is clearly visible. Its body is quite thick from the front of the dorsal fin to the bottom of the fish below the pectoral fins.

This fish is widely distributed throughout the tropical and subtropical waters of the Indo-Pacific. Like other grouper species, brown-marbled grouper lives in rich clear waters close to coral or rocky reefs, lagoons and external slopes. They can be found from shallow water until 60 metres depth.

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The brown-marbled grouper is carnivorous fish and an ambush predator. Their prey consists of small fish, crustacean, squid, jellyfish and molluscs. The grouper is solitary and sedentary fish, they will defend their territory and are nocturnal fish which mean that mostly active at night time. Brown-marbled grouper has a relatively long-life span, they can live up to 40 years old. This fish is a protogynous hermaphrodite, which means the female can change into male as their maturing.

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