Common Name: Blackspotted Rockcod

Distribution: Uncommon in the Solitary Islands Marine Park. Distributed throughout the Indo-Pacific region: from the Red Sea and East Africa to Tonga, north to Japan, south to Australia. In Australia recorded from Exmouth in Western Australia, around the northern coastline to Torres Strait, including in the Gulf of Carpentaria, south through coastal Queensland to northern New South Wales.

Ecological Notes: Frequents a variety of habitats including coral and rocky reefs, estuaries and sandy or mud bottoms to a depth of 150 m. Juveniles found near shore and in estuaries.

Additional Notes: Five dark broken bars obliquely across body with small dark spots. Similar E. coioides has lighter background colour and distinctly red brown spots. Feeds primarily on fishes and crustaceans. Juveniles approximately 40 cm pictured here. Grows to 234 cm, commonly 100 cm.

References: R. Stuart-Smith, G. Edgar, A. Green, I. Shaw, Tropical Marine Fishes of Australia. Reed New Holland Publishers, 2015. p. 96.

Atlas of Living Australia website at https://bie.ala.org.au/search?q=Epinephelus+malabaricus. Accessed 29/05/18.

FishBase. Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2018. World Wide Web electronic publication. https://fishbase.ca/summary/Epinephelus-malabaricus.html. Accessed 29/05/18.