Brown spotted reef cod

Brown spotted reef cod
Epinephelus chlorostigma from New Caledonia
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Perciformes
Family: Serranidae
Genus: Epinephelus
Species: E. chlorostigma
Binomial name
Epinephelus chlorostigma
(Valenciennes, 1828)

The brown spotted reef cod (Epinephelus chlorostigma), known as Souman or Hamour-e Khaldar-e Qahvei in Persian and commonly as brownspotted grouper in English, is a fish belonging to the family Serranidae.

Description

E. chlorostigma can reach a length of 12–75 cm and a weight up to 7 kg. It is one of the largest coral dwelling fish. It has large pectoral and caudal fins that enable it to move and maneuver quickly through the water. It has a pale green gray body covered with small circular brown blotches, except for its belly which is lighter in color. When aroused, the fish is able to change its body shading according to its surroundings. Five dark brown vertical bands appear along the body. Its mouth is very large and capable of being opened to the width of the body diameter.

It feeds on crabs, cuttle fish and almost any other small fish. It is shy and lazy in its habits. When feeding, E. chlorostigma hides in its cave opening or in between corals and waits for some unsuspecting prey to pass by close enough to be pounced upon and swallowed whole. Predators are usually warned off by an impressive display of mouth gaping.

Cooked hamour in all its forms (stew, grilled, or fried) is a highly prized dish in Southern parts of the Persian Gulf and "baby hamour" is a delicacy found numerous upscale restaurants.

Habitat

It is a reef-dwelling fish and prefers coral caves or rock crevices in which to live, at a depth of 4 to 280 m.

Distribution

This species can be found in the Persian Gulf, in the Indian Ocean and in western Pacific Ocean.

Parasites

Neidhartia lochepintade Bray & Justine, 2013,[1] an intestinal parasite of Epinephelus chlorostigma

As other fish, the brown spotted reef cod has many parasites, including several species of monogeneans on its gills,[2][3][4] including Pseudorhabdosynochus epinepheli,[4] and the digenean Neidhartia lochepintade in its intestine.[1] This parasite species was named for the New Caledonian name of the fish, "loche pintade".

See also

Hamour

Bibliography

References

  1. 1 2 Bray, RA.; Justine, JL. (2013). "Bucephalidae (Digenea) from epinephelines (Serranidae: Perciformes) from the waters off New Caledonia, including Neidhartia lochepintade n. sp.". Parasite 20: 56. doi:10.1051/parasite/2013055. PMID 24351242.
  2. ↑ Justine, JL.; Henry, E. (Oct 2010). "Monogeneans from Epinephelus chlorostigma (Val.) (Perciformes: Serranidae) off New Caledonia, with the description of three new species of diplectanids.". Syst Parasitol 77 (2): 81–105. doi:10.1007/s11230-010-9263-x. PMID 20852982.
  3. ↑ Schoelinck, C., Cruaud, C. & Justine, J.-L. 2012: Are all species of Pseudorhabdosynochus strictly host specific? – a molecular study. Parasitology International, 61, 356-359.doi:10.1016/j.parint.2012.01.009
  4. 1 2 Justine, JL. (Jan 2009). "A redescription of Pseudorhabdosynochus epinepheli (Yamaguti, 1938), the type-species of Pseudorhabdosynochus Yamaguti, 1958 (Monogenea: Diplectanidae), and the description of P. satyui n. sp. from Epinephelus akaara off Japan.". Syst Parasitol 72 (1): 27–55. doi:10.1007/s11230-008-9171-5. PMID 19048406.

External links

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