Comb Grouper

Distinguished by the following characteristics: usually reddish brown, sometimes mottled with black or pale grey spots with black streak above maxilla; juveniles with black saddle blotch on peduncle; oblong body, compressed, depth contained 2.8-3.2 times in SL; head length 2.5-2.7 in SL; convex interorbital area; enlarged serrae at angle of preopercle, forming rounded lobe set off by the indentation immediately above; nostrils subequal in juveniles, posterior nostrils about twice that of anterior ones in adults (Ref. 89707).

Dorsal spines (total): 11; Dorsal soft rays (total): 15 - 17; Analspines: 3; Analsoft rays: 11 - 12

Stalking predators of fishes and bottom animals (Ref. 40396).

Occurs over rocky and sandy bottoms; young individuals very common in mangrove-lined lagoons. Feeds on mollusks (presumably cephalopods) and small fishes (Ref. 89707). Marketed fresh.

fisheries: minor commercial; price category: high; price reliability: questionable: based on ex-vessel price for species in this genus