Gulf Grouper, Mycteroperca jordani

Gulf Grouper, Mycteroperca jordani, Juvenile. Fish caught from coastal waters off Rocky Point, Sonora, November 2014. Length: 23 cm (9.1 inches). Photograph courtesy if Carl Rutherford, Mesa, Arizona.

Gulf Grouper, Mycteroperca jordani, Juvenile. Fish caught pre-dawn with a cast net from within Magdalena Bay, Baja California Sur, October 2019. Length: 39 cm (15 inches).  Excellent photograph illustrating rounded soft dorsal fin and rounded caudal fin with white margin.

Gulf Grouper, Mycteroperca jordani, Juvenile. Fish caught from within Magdalena Bay, Baja California Sur, October 2019. Length: 44 cm (17 inches). Identification reconfirmed by Dr. Matt Craig, NOAA, La Jolla, California.

Gulf Grouper, Mycteroperca jordani, Juvenile. Fish caught from coastal waters off Puertecitos, Baja California, November 2014. Length: 46 cm (18 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Eli (obsessiveangling.wordpress.com).

Gulf Grouper, Mycteroperca jordani, Juvenile. Fish caught from coastal waters off La Bocana, Baja California Sur, October 2015. Length: 51 cm (24 inches). Weight: 2.0 kg (4 lbs 6 oz). Catch, photograph, and identification courtesy of George Brinkman, Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Identification reconfirmed by Dr. Matt Craig, NOAA, La Jolla, California.

Gulf Grouper, Mycteroperca jordani. Fish caught out from coastal waters off Abreojos, Baja California Sur, May 2016. Length: 90 cm (2 feet 11 inches). Weight: 11 kg (24 lbs). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Chris Wheaton, Fullerton, California.

Gulf Grouper, Mycteroperca jordani. Fish caught from coastal waters out of 300-foot water off El Tule, Baja California Sur, January 2024. Length: 1.02 m (3 feet 4 inches). Weight: 15.4 kg (35 pounds). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Chip Shapley, Los Barriles, Baja California Sur.

The Gulf Grouper, Mycteroperca jordani, is a member of the Grouper or Epinephelidae Family, and is known in Mexico as baya that is known locally as cabrilla and prieto (thish translates into “darker) it being very similar to the Broomtail Grouper, Mycteroperca xenarcha but darker in color). Globally, there are fifteen species in the genus Mycteroperca,  of which eleven are found in Mexican waters, seven in the Atlantic and four in the Pacific Ocean.

The Gulf Grouper is gray-brown in color with adults having a white caudal fin margin and characterized by their “grouper-like” appearance. Their anal fin has 3 spines and 10 or 11 rays; their dorsal fin has 11 spines, with the fourth and fifth being the longest, and 16 or 17 rays. They have a series of solid, irregular blotches radiate from the face area when they are alive. Their tails are straight or slightly concave, their gill covers are rounded and notched, and their fins are tipped in white.

The Gulf Grouper is found within rocky reefs and in kelp beds with large adults being common in shallow water at depths between 8 m (25 feet) and 46 m (150 feet).  The are found at depths up to 100 m (330 feet). They reach a maximum length of 1.98 m (6 feet 6 inches) and 91 kg (200 lbs) in weight. As of January 1, 2024, the International Game Fish Association world record stood at 51.4 kg (113 lbs 5 oz) with the fish caught from coastal waters off Gonzaga Bay, Baja California in October 2021. A Grouper Family Weight From Length Conversion Table has been included in this website to allow the accurate determination of a fish weight and a return to the ocean unharmed. They are voracious ambush predators feeding on small fish. They have a slow growth rate reaching maturity at the age of six or seven years. They are aggregating spawners with females significantly outnumbering males indicative that they are protogynous hermaphrodites who change from female to male at mid-life. The Gulf Grouper is poorly studied with very limited information available about their lifestyle and behavioral patterns including specific details on age, growth, longevity, movement patterns, diet, habitat use, and reproduction.

The Gulf Grouper is a resident of Mexican waters of the Pacific but have a limited distribution being found along the entire West Coast of Baja and throughout the Sea of Cortez; they are absent from along the coast of the mainland from Mazatlán, Sinaloa south to Guatemala.

The Gulf Grouper can be confused with the Broomtail Grouper, Mycteroperca xenarcha (second thru seventh dorsal spines of equal length).

From a conservation perspective the Gulf Grouper is currently considered to be an ENDANGERED due to their size and population declines of at least 50% over the past 30 years, directly attributed to intensive recreational fishing pressure. Historically they dominated the rocky-reef fish community in terms of biomass comprising 45% of the total finfish production in the late 50′s; at present their levels are less than 1%. Due to its size, strength, and food value, the Gulf Groupers are an intense object of game fishing. They are considered an excellent food fish and are sold commercially in numerous local fish markets commanding high prices. They are one of the important food fish of the Sea of Cortez.  Heavy fishing pressure on the Gulf Grouper is likely to increase along with associated reef habitat destruction as greater investment in recreational fisheries occurs. They are a large species with a long life span and are caught seasonally out of heavily fished spawning aggregations, both factors making this species particularly vulnerable to overfishing. A generic table for Groupers allowing the determination of the weight of a fish from its length has been included (Grouper Family Weight From Length Conversion Table) with the hope that perhaps some fish will be handled as “catch and release.”