Panama Graysby, Cephalopholis panamensis
Panama Graysby, Cephalopholis panamensis, Juveniles. Underwater photographs taken in Zihuantanejo Bay, Guerrero, December 2021. Fishes range is size from 5.0 cm (2.0 inches) to 10.0 cm (3.9 inches). Photographs courtesy of Ron Woheau, Zihuantanejo.
Panama Graysby, Cephalopholis panamensis. Fish caught from coastal waters off Mazatlán, Sinaloa, October 2021. Length: 20 cm (7.9 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Bart, The Netherlands (worldangler.eu).
Panama Graysby, Cephalopholis panamensis. Fish caught from coastal waters off Puerto Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, April 2003. Length: 25 cm (10 inches).
Panama Graysby, Cephalopholis panamensis. Fish caught from shore in the greater Muertos Bay area, Baja California Sur. January 2018. Length: 25 cm (10 inches). Catch courtesy of Steve Silver, Seattle, Washington. Photograph courtesy of Brad Murakami, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada.
Panama Graysby, Cephalopholis panamensis. Fish caught in waters adjacent to Roca Consag, San Felipe, Baja California, May 2015. Catch, Photograph and Identification courtesy of Chris Wheaton, Santa Fe Springs, California.
Panama Graysby, Cephalopholis panamensis. Underwater photograph taken in Zihuantanejo Bay, Guerrero, December 2025. Photograph courtesy of Ron Woheau, Zihuantanejo.
The Panama Graysby, Cephalopholis panamensis, is a member of the Grouper or Epinephelidae Family, that is also known as the Pacific Graysby and in Mexico as cabrilla enjambre and cabrilla ribera. Globally, there are twenty-six species in the genus Cephalopholis, of which three are found in Mexican waters, two in the Atlantic and one, this species in the Pacific Ocean.
The Panama Graysby is a are dark reddish-brown fish have 9 or 10 dark bands on their bodies, a dark spot behind their eyes, and numerous blue and orange spots on the side of their heads. Their anal fin has 3 spines and 8 rays; the caudal fin base is slender and their caudal fin is rounded; their dorsal fin has 9 spines, the third of which is the longest, a notch, and 14 or 15 rays; and, their pectoral fin has 17 to 18 rays. They are covered with small rough scales.
The Panama Graysby is a common, non-migratory, shy, and secretive fish found within coral and rocky habitat at depths up to 101 m (330 feet). This depth was established by a fish caught by my good friend Chip Shapley, off the Gordo Bank Numero Dos, San José del Cabo, September 2025. They reach a maximum length of 37 cm (14.6 inches), as documented by a fish that was caught by my long time friend Dr. Larry Overman, in coastal waters off Loreto, Baja California Sur, in October 2017. Note: the IGFA posted record for the species of 45.7 cm (18 inches) is of an incorrectly identified fish. They are voracious ambush predators feeding on small fish and benthic crustaceans. They are protogynous hermaphrodites changing from female to male at mid-life. The males are larger, older, and fewer in number. They have a lifespan of twenty-five years. The Panamic Graysby is poorly studied with very limited information available about their lifestyle and behavioral patterns including specific details on age, diet, growth, habitat, longevity, movement patterns, and reproduction.
The Panama Graysby is a resident of all Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean with the exception that they are absent from Magdalena Bay, Baja California Sur, northward along the central and northwest coasts of Baja.
The Panama Graysby is easy to identify and cannot be easily confused with other species.
From a conservation perspective the Panama Graysby is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. They are small in stature and of limited value to most, however they are retained by subsistence fishermen. When released, they will normally return to the deep on their own.