Description

The Kenyan Blue Spotted Grouper a.k.a. The Coral Grouper, Coral Hind, Coral Rock Cod, Coral Trout, Round-Tailed Trout or Vermillion Seabass (Cephalopholis Miniata) is a species of marine ray-finned fish associated with coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific from the eastern coast of Africa from the Red Sea to Durban in South Africa and east through the Indian Ocean and into the Pacific as far as the Line Islands. It grows to a maximum length of 20″ inches and is found in clear waters where there are coastal and offshore coral reefs where it prefers exposed rather than protected areas. It is often seen in caves and below ledges at depths of 6.6′ to 492′ feet.

The Kenyan Blue Spotted Grouper or Coral Hind Grouper has a body which is up to 3.0 times as long in length as it is deep, with a head that’s flat to slightly convex between the eyes from a dorsal profile view. It has a rounded, finely serrated preopercle which has a fleshy lower edge, and the maxilla extends beyond the rear of the eye. The color of the body is orange-red to reddish brown with many small bright blue spots which cover the head, body and the dorsal, anal and caudal fins, and sometimes have diagonal paler bars on the flanks. Juveniles are orange to yellow with fewer widely separated faint blue spots.

Like other groupers it is predatory with over 80% of its diet consists of small fish, predominantly sea goldies, which are ambushed by the Kenyan Blue Spotted Grouper or Coral Hind Grouper in a sudden rush up from the substrate. The remainder of its diet consists of crustaceans. They form harems consisting of a single male and up to 12 females. Coral hinds can change sex from female to male. The male patrols the territory and visits each female, swimming parallel to each other when they meet.