The Tomato Grouper section is now complete

I've just finished writing a description for one of the least wide-spread Grouper species in the area:

Tomato Grouper (Cephalopholis Sonnerati)

The Tomato Grouper (Cephalopholis Sonnerati) is a shy and elusive member of the Grouper family with a preference for deeper locations such as Sail Rock, which hosts a small "resident" group of only two or three individuals that rarely seem to stray far from their territory at the South-East corner (although they have occasionally been seen at the East Pinnacle, this may have been a rare excursion from a member of the group mentioned above).

Apart from those at Sail Rock, the species is rarely seen at other offshore dive sites and is either absent, or very rare at the shallower inshore local reefs.

Growing to a maximum length of around 50cm, Tomato Groupers may be protogynous hermaphrodites, a common trait amongst many Serranids.

This would explain what appears to be sexual dimorphism within the group found at Sail Rock, with the smaller individual(s) likely to be female, and slightly larger, more robust individual(s) being male.

Assuming this is a case of both protogynous hermaphroditism and sexual dimorphism, the main distinguishing features of the species are as follows:

The larger male has a more robust shape, with a quite distinctive "hump-headed" appearance. It also appears to have a more uniform, and darker red/brown general colouration with dark brown/red spots than the smaller/female individuals, which tend to be a paler olive green/grey with numerous dark brown/red spots.

As with many fish species, the Tomato Grouper has the ability to rapidly change its skin pattern and/or colouration. Therefor, it may be found with a more "blotchy" appearance.

One characteristic of the species, which is shared by all individuals regardless of size or gender, are the distinctive bright red eyes, although as with the overall redish skin colouration and spots, this is not apparent at depth unless viewed with a camera flash or other artificial light source.

Click this link to see some photos and descriptions of the Tomato Grouper.