Fish

Malabar Rockcod

Epinephelus malabaricus

A large estuary-and-reef grouper, pale brown and peppered with well-separated dark spots over broad, oblique body bars.

Also known as malabar

Malabar Rockcod
Photo: Nigel Marsh · CC BY-NC 4.0
Habitat
Reef, rocky ground and estuaries

The Malabar rockcod is pale grey to yellowish brown, covered with small, sharply defined blackish-brown spots along with scattered larger, diffuse pale spots and blotches. Five irregular, slightly oblique broad dark bars cross the body, and the mouth reaches back past the eye.

It is a robust grouper that holds to reef and rocky ground, one of the larger rockcod a diver is likely to encounter along the east coast.