Kingdom Animalia Class Actinopterygii Family Serranidae Rank Species | Phylum Chordata Order Perciformes Genus Plectropomus | |
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Similar Plectropomus, Plectropomus areolatus, Plectropomus laevis, Variola, Yellow‑edged lyretail | ||
The roving coralgrouper (Plectropomus pessuliferus) is a species of fish in the family Serranidae. Other commom names are violet coral trout and leopard grouper.
Contents
Subspecies
Subspecies include:
Distribution and habitat
This widespread but quite rare species can be found in the Indo-Pacific, from Red Sea to Fiji (Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Indonesia (Bali, Java and Sumatra), Israel, Jordan, Mozambique, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tanzania, Tonga, Zanzibar, Maldives, Laccadives, St. Brandon's Shoals, Sri Lanka, Chagos, Nazareth Bank and Fiji). These fishes live in coral reef, in shallow lagoon and seaward reefs, at a depth range of 25 - 147 m.
Description
Plectropomus pessuliferus reaches a maximum length of 120 cm (in the Red Sea) and at least 63 cm (in the rest of the Indo-Pacific). These large fishes have massive bodies and head with prominent eyes and characteristic large jaw and lips. Their pectoral and caudal fins are darker, sometimes brown, spotted with blue dots. They have very variable colors, from white or beige to red, with large irregular vertical grayish bands. The whole body is covered with blue dots. They have 7-9 dorsal spines, 10-12 dorsal soft rays, three anal spines and eight anal soft rays.
This species is rather similar and often misidentified as Plectropomus maculatus.
Biology
This carnivorous species mainly feed on fishes and crustaceans. These fishes sometimes engage in cooperative hunting with the giant moray (Gymnothorax javanicus) and with the humphead wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus).