Species diversity and some aspects of reproductive biology and life history of groupers (Pisces: Serranidae: Epinephelinae) off the central eastern coast of India

Figures & data

Figure 1. Map showing grouper landing centres off the north Andhra region.

Table I. Grouper species represented in the catches of the north Andhra region.

Species	Common names	n	Length range (mm TL)	Length at maturity (mm TL)	Maximum length (mm TL)^c	Status in IUCN Red List
Genus Cephalopholis Bloch & Schneider, 1801
formosa (Shaw & Nodder, 1812)	Bluelined hind	60	135–334	170^b	340	LC
sonnerati (Valenciennes, 1828)	Tomato hind	31	175–502	280^2 SL (♀); 340 SL (♂)	570	LC
Genus Epinephelus Bloch, 1793
areolatus (Forsskål, 1775)	Angular perch	81	145–402		390^d	–
bleekeri (Vaillant, 1877)	Dusky tail grouper	61	138–538		760	NT
chlorostigma (Valenciennes, 1828)	Brown spotted grouper	9	450–730	230–290^3(♀); 350–450 (♂)	800	LC
coioides (Hamilton, 1822)	Orange spotted grouper	440	142–1070	530^a	1140	NT
epistictus (Temminck & Schlegel, 1842)	Dotted grouper	32	215–561		800	DD
latifasciatus (Temminck & Schlegel, 1842)	Striped grouper	972	94–978	610^4	1570	DD
longispinis (Kner, 1864)	Longspine grouper	15	212–367		550	LC
magniscuttis Postel, Fourmanoir & Gueze, 1963	Speckled grouper	38	214–699		1500	DD
malabaricus (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)	Malabar grouper	145	153–1530	640^a	1500	NT
radiatus (Day, 1867)	Oblique band grouper	140	145–506		700	LC
tauvina (Forsskål, 1775)	Greasy grouper	6	185–965		750	DD
undulosus (Quoy & Gaimard, 1824)	Wavy-lined grouper	28	245–614		1200	DD

^a Recorded in present study; ^bValue obtained from literature (2 – Morgans (1982), 3 – de Moussac (1986), 4 – Sujatha & Shrikanya (2013)), ^cHeemstra & Randall (1993), Froese & Pauly (2013), Craig et al. (2011), ^dSujatha et al. (2008); LC, Least Concern; DD, Data Deficient; NT, Near Threatened.

Figure 2. Exploited small-size grouper species: (a) Cephalopholis formosa – 169 mm TL, (b) Epinephelus areolatus – 384 mm TL, (c) E. longispinis – 337 mm TL.

Figure 3. Exploited medium-size grouper species: (a) Cephalopholis sonnerati – 342 mm TL, (b) Epinephelus bleekeri – 308 mm TL, (c) E. chlorostigma – 450 mm TL, (d) E. epistictus – 233 mm TL, (e) E. radiatus – 231 mm TL, (f) E. tauvina – 238 mm TL, (g) E. undulosus – 358 mm TL.

Figure 4. Exploited large-size grouper species (adults at left side, juveniles/subadults at right): (a1) Epinephelus coioides – 840 mm TL, (a2) E. coioides – 213 mm TL, (b1) E. malabaricus – 433 mm TL, (b2) E. malabaricus – 175 mm TL, (c1) E. magniscuttis – 502 mm TL, (c2) E.magniscuttis – 261 mm TL, (d1) E. latifasciatus – 893 mm TL, (d2) E. latifasciatus – 363 mm TL.

Figure 5. Percentage occurrence of exploited grouper species off the north Andhra region.

Figure 6. Monthly percentage occurrence (weight in kg) of exploited grouper species.

Figure 7. Pooled annual length frequency distribution of small-size groupers.

Figure 8. Pooled annual length frequency distribution of medium-size groupers.

Figure 9. Pooled annual length frequency distribution of large-size groupers.

Table II. Percentage occurrence of females of Epinephelus coioides in different stages of maturity in various months represented in the catches at Visakhapatnam during the period October 2009 to September 2011.

Maturity stages (n = 131)	Jan n = 8	Feb n = 14	Mar n = 24	Apr n = 4	May n = 6	Jun n = 4	Jul n = 10	Aug n = 15	Sep n = 8	Oct n = 10	Nov n = 18	Dec n = 10
Stage I – P	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	5	–	–	–	–
Stage I – A	–	–	–	50	–	–	–	10	5	10	–	–
Stage II – P	10	5	10	50	40	100	10	25	10	25	5	10
Stage II – A	10	20	15	–	60	–	40	20	45	15	20	10
Stage III	30	45	50	–	–	–	40	40	40	50	30	30
Stage IV	50	35	25	–	–	–	10	–	–	–	45	50

Figure 10. (a) Length at first maturity of Epinephelus coioides; (b) length at first maturity of Epinephelus malabaricus.

Table III. Fecundity of 12 grouper species (genera Cephalopholis and Epinephelus) off the north Andhra region.

		Length range (mm TL)	Body weight (grams)	Gonad weight (grams)	Fecundity
Species	n^a	min–max	min–max	min–max	min–max
Small-size groupers
C. formosa	2	235–240	230–252	3.59–4.49	80,208–82,520
E. areolatus	16	142–330	78–430	1.24–7.62	22,128–93,607
E. longispinis	1	315	525	8.97	44,604
Medium-size groupers
C. sonnerati	3	272–522	412–1850	7.04–37.29	42,252–508,581
E. bleekeri	12	367–530	400–3000	12.71–28.24	156,176–440,129
E. chlorostigma	1	547	2500	122.00	1,014,818
E. epistictus	1	604	2900	37.78	448,584
E. radiatus	10	248–400	180–800	3.946–27.004	55,838–293,382
E. tauvina	1	584	3000	16.999	354,989
Large-size groupers
E. coioides	35	419–840	1000–10,000	9.93–460.00	43,618–463,940
E. magniscuttis	15	465–671	1200–5100	5.08–66.371	46,769–440,129
E. malabaricus	23	641–830	3000–7800	21.76–230.00	51,087–2,319,876

^a Observed gonads.

Figure 11. Epinephelus coioides: different maturity stages of ovary and testis (top (a–d): ovary stages I–III; below: ovary stage IV; bottom: testis stages II, III).

Figure 12. Relationship between (a) fecundity – total length, (b) fecundity – body weight and (c) fecundity – ovary weight in Epinephelus coioides.

Figure 13. Relationship between (a) fecundity – total length, (b) fecundity – body weight and (c) fecundity – ovary weight in Epinephelus malabaricus.

Table IV. Relationship between fecundity and the variables total length, body weight and ovary weight in six species of the genus Epinephelus.

Species	Total length	Body weight	Ovary weight
E. coioides	F = 76828L4E + 06 (r^2 = 0.5538)	F = 32852W – 507426 (r^2 = 0.5963)	F = 10418O + 21793 (r^2 = 0.8825)
E. malabaricus	F = 22471L – 759934 (r^2 = 0.0754)	F = 14423W + 13979 (r^2 = 0.1172)	F = 7225.2O + 36536 (r^2 = 0.6311)
E. areolatus	F = 81.111L + 40684 (r^2 = 0.0086)	F = 96.282W^3.9175 (r^2 = 0.0268)	F = 24456O – 30468 (r^2 = 0.7286)
E. bleekeri	F = 1712.4L + 1E^6 (r^2 = 0.6649)	F = 167.6W + 174223 (r^2 = 0.0917)	F = 1887O – 58302 (r^2 = 0.7912)
E. magniscuttis	F = 967L^2.44756 (r^2 = 0.0859)	F = 51.72W + 167760 (r^2 = 0.0539)	F = 9208.9O + 9784.8 (r^2 = 0.6658)
E. radiatus	F = 1677.3L^3.73023 (r^2 = 0.5459)	F = 281.51W^4.0547 (r^2 = 0.5947)	F = 12154O^2.4448 (r^2 = 0.8473)

Table V. Length range and Length-Weight Relationships of groupers (genera Cephalopholis and Epinephelus).

	n	F	M	ND^a	Length range (mm TL)	Weight range (g)	Log a	W = aL^b	(r^2) original data	(r^2) log transformed data	Growth type
Small-size
C. formosa	60	9	8	43	135–334	44–619	−4.465	W = 0.0000174L^2.8630	0.925	0.945	Allometric (–)
E. areolatus	81	21	–	60	145–402	46–950	−4.8015	W = 0.0000133L^2.9469	0.9073	0.9241	Isometric
E. longispinis	15	2	–	13	212–367	120–700	−5.4655	W = 0.00001521L^3.2492	0.9049	0.9209	Allometric (+)
Medium-size
C. sonnerati	31	3	–	28	175–502	75–1700	−5.0515	W = 0.00001872L^3.1041	0.8842	0.9316	Allometric (+)
E. bleekeri	61	12	3	46	138–538	32–3000	−5.1527	W = 0.00001979L^3.1122	0.9247	0.9092	Allometric (+)
E. chlorostigma	9	2	1	6	450–730	1200–6000	−4.9515	W = 0.00001487L^3.0434	0.9759	0.9862	Isometric
E. tauvina	6	1	–	5	185–965	110–7500	−5.0544	W = 0.00002276L^3.0652	0.9172	0.9931	Isometric
E. undulosus	28	–	–	28	245–614	200–3100	−4.271	W = 0.00001518L^2.7642	0.9552	0.9744	Allometric (–)
Large-size
E. coioides	440	13	18	291	142–1070	64–18000	−4.8364	W = 0.00002047L^2.9875	0.9183	0.9563	Isometric
E. malabaricus	145	23	8	114	153–1530	45–65500	−5.0212	W = 0.00002369L^3.0632	0.9014	0.972	Isometric

^a ND mainly consists of juveniles and also specimens for which sex was not determined.

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