Species: Mycteroperca rosacea, Leopard grouper
rare gold morph
Mycteroperca rosacea (Streets, 1877)
Leopard grouper
Body elongate, robust, compressed, depth at dorsal origin not greater than at anal origin; body deepest at anal fin origin; snout much longer than eye; lower jaw projecting; rear of top jaw exposed when mouth closed, without accessory bone above it; teeth depressible; canines at front of jaws; corner of preopercle with weak serrated lobe; gill rakers 37-43 (usually 39-40); dorsal rays XI,16-18 (usually 17), 3rd spine longest; anal rays III,10-11; pectoral rays 15-17 (usually 16); tail fin of adults with straight rear margin; scales in longitudinal series above lateral line 110-130.
Small juveniles light tan to nearly whitish with relatively widely-spaced small brown spots; spotting becomes denser in adults which have a greenish to grey-brown ground color; on the upper half there is often a series of irregular dark saddles with narrow whitish streaks between them; occasional (about 1% of population) individuals are overall golden yellow, sometimes with a few small patches of dark pigment.
Size: to 100 cm and 12.2 Kg.
Inhabits rocky reefs.
Depth: 1-100 m.
Southern Baja and the Gulf of California; Guadalupe, Alijos Rocks.
High Resolution Map Download
- Salinity
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- Marine Only
- Marine
- Inshore/Offshore
-
- Inshore
- Inshore Only
- Water Column Position
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- Bottom only
- Bottom
- Habitat
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- Rocks
- Reef only
- Reef (rock/coral/oyster)
- Reef associated (reef + edges-water column & soft bottom)
- FishBase Habitat
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- Reef Associated
- Feeding Group
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- Data
- Carnivore
- Diet
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- Mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs)
- Bony fishes
- Data
- Egg Type
-
- No data
- Pelagic
- Pelagic larva
- Global Endemism
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- Tropical Eastern Pacific (TEP) endemic
- East Pacific endemic
- All species
- Regional Endemism
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- Cortez + Mexican provinces endemic
- Continental TEP endemic
- Continent only
- TEP endemic
- All species
- Continent
- Residency
-
- Resident
- Climate Zone
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- Northern Tropical (Mexican Province to Nicaragua + Revillagigedos)
- Northern Subtropical (Cortez Province + Sinaloan Gap)
- North Temperate (Californian Province &/or Northern Gulf of California)
- IUCN Red List
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- Vulnerable
- Listed
- CITES
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- Not listed
- Depth Range Max
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- 100
- Depth Range Min
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- 1
- Length Max
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- 100
