(Image credit: Rudie Kuiter / Aquatic Photographics)

Western blue groper are the largest bony fish on the south coast. They live in small family groups headed by a dominant male. If he disappears, the dominant female changes gender and colour to becomes the new dominant male. Small juveniles shelter seagrasses and algae in bays and estuaries.

Length: Up to 1.75 m

Habitat

Exposed reefs; 0-40 m depth

Log it

Log this species wherever it is spotted in Victorian waters

Related links/info

Species names on the Redmap site are based on the Codes for Australian Aquatic Biota or CAAB (http://www.cmar.csiro.au/caab/). This is updated regularly and lists the approved common name, family, species name and more.

Redmap species descriptions were based, with permission, on the following resources:

Australian Marine Life: The Plants and Animals of Temperate Waters by G. J. Edgar, Revised Ed. (2008) Reed Books, Melbourne

Fishes of Australia’s Southern Coast, Edited by M. Gomon. D. Bray and R. Kuiter (2008) Reed Books, Melbourne

Find further information and images at FISHES OF AUSTRALIA http://www.fishesofaustralia.net.au/