Tribe Epinephelini

Serranidae: Epinephelinae: Epinephelini

© Copyright Ros Poole.

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Introduction

Members of the tribe Epinephelini are found worldwide in tropical and warm temperate regions. Most species occur on coral reefs, but many species are found on the continental shelf. The tribe includes about 160 species in 15 genera. Currently, 76 species in 10 genera are known from Australia. Some workers (e.g. Heemstra & Randall 1993) treat the tribe, as recognised here, as a distinct subfamily. Relationships of the tribe are discussed by Craig & Hastings (2007). Based on molecular work they proposed a very different generic classification. However Craig et al. (2011) returned to much of the earlier classification because the groupings were not morphologically definable. They did, however, retain Hyporthodus as a genus distinct from Epinephelus. That genus is recognised here. However, they also regarded Anyperodon and Chromileptes as junior synonyms of Epinephelus and moved some species of Epinephelus to Mycteroperca and placed other monotypic genera as synonyms of larger genera. We do not follow those changes here because of limited morphological support. Maximum size of adults varies from 10 cm to 3 m.

General References

Craig, M.T., Sadovy de Mitcheson, Y.J. & Heemstra, P.C. 2011. Groupers of the World: a Field and Market Guide. Grahamstown, South Africa : NISC Ltd 356 pp., Appendix 47 pp.

Craig, M.T. & Hastings, P.A. 2007. A molecular phylogeny of the groupers of the subfamily Epinephelinae (Serranidae) with a revised classification of the Epinephelini. Ichthyological Research 54(1): 1-17

Heemstra, P.C. & Randall, J.E. 1993. Groupers of the World (Family Serranidae, Subfamily Epinephelinae). An annotated and illustrated catalogue of grouper, rockcod, hind, coral grouper and lyretail species known to date. FAO Fisheries Synopsis No. 125 Vol. 16. Rome: FAO. pp. 1-382

Ma, K.Y. & Craig, M.T. 2018. An inconvenient monophyly: an update on the taxonomy of the groupers (Epinephelidae). Copeia 2018(3): 443–456

History of changes