On the other hand, for species that pair up at random, with no regard to size, being a female at a larger size is an advantage. Therefore, changing gender from female to male as they grow larger is to their advantage, and evolution has favored those that change sexes. In species where the male keeps and defends a harem of females or where males stake out the best spawning sites, large males have the most opportunity to mate because of their ability to dominate smaller males. Without question, as fish get larger, both their ability to produce eggs and sperm and their fighting abilities increase. Scientists have long been puzzled as to why a few families of fish have developed the ability to change sex or be both sexes at the same time. All the fish over 37 inches long are males.
But by 31 inches long, males outnumber females two to one. In the yellowedge grouper, another deep water species off of Louisiana, fish less than 30 inches long are almost all females. They start their lives as females, then change to males as they grow to larger sizes. Least common are simultaneous hermaphrodites - fish that can produce both eggs and sperm at the same time. Change from male to female (called protandry) is less common, and is known from eight families of fishes. Ruffin was bouncing a live pinfish off the bottom while the boat was drifting over a 180-foot deep rise surrounded by waters over 400 feet deep.Īmong the several hundred families of fish, at least 14 families have species in which individuals change from female to male (called protogyny). (I still think Louisiana should claim the Flower Gardens, but that’s another story.)įinally, in February 2008 on Ship Shoal, Ruffin caught his big one, which is currently pending IGFA approval as the all-tackle world record. Scott Keith Anderson caught a 27-pound, 10-ounce marbled grouper from the Flower Gardens Banks, which are found just on the Texas side of the Louisiana-Texas border. In July of 2006, the IGFA world record left Louisiana, but not by far. David Chad Cormier caught a 17.62 slopehead, and Prentiss Perkins landed a 23.3-pounder. Then in July 2005, the record fish was surpassed not once, but twice. The 14.5-pound fish was caught by John Costello from Green Canyon offshore of Louisiana.
Immediately after creating the category, an International Game Fish Association (IGFA) all-tackle world record marbled grouper was recognized as the state record. The Louisiana Fish Records Program didn’t even have a category for the species until 2002. Yet, somehow, the waters off the Louisiana coast have gotten a corner on producing record-book marbled grouper. Little mention is made of its occurrence in the Gulf of Mexico, especially the northern gulf. Then there is the marbled grouper, Dermolepis inermis.Īlso known as a john paw and in the Caribbean as a donkey fish, most references list it as a fish of the Caribbean, but with a range extending from Bermuda, through the West Indies and down the South American coast to northern Brazil. Some are more colorful than others, but all are handsome fishes. Few of these would be recognized as groupers.įifteen of the other 16 family members look like fairly typical groupers, powerfully-built but stream-lined predators. Included in the 21 members of the family in the Gulf of Mexico are the odd but colorful creole fish, the diminutive sand perch and the bank, rock and black sea basses. Groupers are members of the family Serranidae, the sea basses. That head gives the marbled grouper one of its common names, slopehead. It slopes preposterously steeply from the front base of the dorsal fin down to the protruding lower jaw. In some ways, it looks like a deformed tripletail.īut the thing that really sticks out is the head. Its fins appear too big for the body, and it has thick rubbery-looking lips. It is short, stumpy and wide-bodied and is a muddy, blotchy, marbled brown color. And the cool life history of most groupers appeals to my biologist side.īut, I have to admit, of all the cool fish in the grouper family, the marbled grouper is the coolest of all. The ichthyophagist side of me appreciates their superb taste and texture. Ruffin had caught a 30.6-pound marbled grouper while fishing with Capt.
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