Last Update : Sunday 25 November, 2001 9:06 PM

		Illust : Anuwat Saisaen

Square tail coral trout
Scientific name	Plectropomus areolatus
Common name	Square tail coral trout
Size	50 centimeters
Dispersion	Around the Thai Sea
Area found	Demersal fish. Found in the coral reef and rock piles.
Depth	20 – 40 meter
Feed on	Small animals
Situation	Quite difficult to find. Two or three seen per dive.
Conservation	Please do not fish them in the conservation area. That will keep them happy.
Fish Tip	This is a type of grouper fish that usually keep still when we approach. It is better to go in slowly.

           Does any one know why Mister Tee draws this fish? If you can tell, take the nice éclair in our Reef 2001 Forum. I spent so long time thinking and still have not found the answer yet. He is so difficult to find. If it is a grouper, there are so many others like coral grouper or rainbow cod. He drew ‘I don’t know what’.

           So, let us put it this way. I will tell you about the grouper fish. Many people might ask why this one is called a coral trout. According to the Australian terminology, the grouper can be either called cod, grouper or coral trout. The coral trout has squared tail. If it is a cod, mainly it has round (concurve) tail. The grouper has concave tail. This is a general rule with a few exceptions. Grouper also refers to very large fish.

           Grouper fish is in Family Serranidae. Since there are a large variety of them, they are divided into sub-families. For example Subfamily Anthiinae are the basslet. This fish is about thumb size swimming in large group of hundreds or thousands, like the orange colored fish seen swimming briskly in the coral reef of Similan Islands. Now you can imagine.

           This Mister Tee’s miraculous square tail coral trout is in Subfamily Epinephelinae. This subfamily consists of large groupers in various genera like Genus Cephalopholis, Genus Epinephelus and Genus Plectropomus of this fish. Please do not ask for the difference of each genus. They are not simple enough to explain in Fish of the Week.

           Grouper is nice to look at. They have wide mouth and tiny teeth. They swallow the prey rather than biting into smaller pieces to eat. They have patterns on the body to camouflage. They stay still. Some even sleep. They do not chase after the prey very much because they are slow swimmers. They wait until the prey comes in and sprint to charge. I saw that once. It was exciting.

           Grouper’s problem is that they have been caught a lot. I am not talking about fishing in general area because I still eat grouper fish. But I would like to ask for fishing in the allowed area not in the conservation area or National Park. This thing can be avoided. There are plenty of good anglers around.

 

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