IUCN

###IUCN Status

Near Threatened
###General

This widely distributed, reef-associated species is targeted by commercial and recreational fishers throughout its range. In U.S. waters, biomass has been increasing over the past two generation lengths (since 1993), but uncertainty in the catch data has recently been discovered and not yet resolved. According to landings and catch per unit effort, declines of 50 to 60% over the past three generation lengths (about 57 years) are suspected in Mexican waters due to overfishing, including capture of juveniles. There are some fishery regulations, but population increases are not known in Mexican waters, possibly due to insufficient effort reduction and/or enforcement. Declines in Cuban waters are also likely to have occurred and landings/catch per unit effort data from Brazil indicate declines of 30 to 50% have occurred over the past three generation lengths as well. Therefore, this species is suspected to have undergone global-level declines of nearly 30%, or possibly more, since 1980, which is a time period covering the past two generation lengths (38 years), and this decline is expected to continue in to the future over the next generation length (19 years) due to no anticipated changes in exploitation rates or management efforts. It is listed as Near Threatened since it nearly meets the thresholds for Vulnerable A4bd. Improvements in fishery management, data collection and actions to reduce fishing effort, especially on aggregations, are needed in areas where populations are continuing to decline.

###Habitat

This species inhabits rocky and coral reefs to 100 metres depth. It occurs solitarily. Juveniles settle in shallow sandy-rocky patch reefs and sometimes occur in estuaries, seagrass and oyster rubble habitat (Keener et al. 1988, Sluka et al. 1994, Ross and Moser 1995, Renán et al. 2003, Schwamborn 2004, Renán-Galindo 2005, Rezende unpublished data). As adults age, they move to deeper waters typically with high relief and deeper than 30 metres (SEDAR48 2017). Adults feed primarily on fishes, including grunts, snappers and herrings. Juveniles feed solely on crustaceans. This species forms seasonal feeding (non-spawning) aggregations along the outer shelf of Brazil that coincides with spawning aggregations of certain prey species (Ferreira-Teixeira et al. 2004, www.ibama.gov.br/cepene). It is a monandric, protogynous hermaphrodite that forms spawning aggregations (Smith 1965, García-Cagide and García 1996, Crabtree and Bullock 1998, Brulé et al. 2003, Teixeira et al. 2004). It has been reported to form spawning aggregations in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea (Fine 1990, Carter and Perrine 1994, Domeier and Colin 1997, Eklund et al. 2000). Off Belize, it may spawn in aggregations at the same sites used by the Nassau Grouper (Carter and Perrine 1994). Oliveira and Souza (2016) suggested possible spawning aggregations off Sergipe and north of Bahia in Brazil, while França and Olavo (2015) indicated spawning aggregations off the state of Bahia that may be targeted by fishers. In South Florida, this species has been aged to at least 33 years and largest recorded total length is 151.8 cm. Growth is relatively rapid for the first ten years and then slows considerably. Age of first maturation is 5.2 years at a size of 82.6 cm, and age at transition is 15.5 years at a length of 121.4 cm (Crabtree and Bullock 1998). In Brazil (Abrolhos Bank), 50% of females were sexually mature at 76.4 cm total length (Oliviera-Freitas et al. 2011). In the southern Gulf of Mexico (Campeche Bank), it has been aged to a maximum of 27 years (Renán et al. 2013). Natural mortality (M) is estimated as 0.15 (Potts and Brennan 2001). Based on a longevity of 33 years, age of first maturity of 5 years, and applying the mean generational turnover formula in Depczynski and Bellwood (2006), one generation length is estimated to be 19 years.
(c) IUCN

External links

• Wikipedia