Grouper Identification

It is important for anglers to be able to identify their catch for many reasons. If you keep fish for food then you need to be able to identify and differentiate between the safe species to eat from the poisonous fish. You will also need to be able to identify fish because similar fish can have different restrictions and keeping an undersized or protected species can cost you more than your dignity. Ignorance will not be tolerated as an excuse when the fisheries officers come inspecting.

Grouper Identification
For new anglers, and even experienced ones, grouper identification can be quite difficult. They have almost identical body structures and even the colors can be very similar depending on the species and age of the fish. Another confusing factor is the different names for the same fish when fishing different states or countries. It takes a bit of study and practice, but nothing beats experience for identifying fish. It is a great idea to keep a laminated chart or fish identification book on board.

There are also heaps of great online fish id sites to help with grouper identification. The following are a collection I have used and recommend.

Fish ID pdf (It is a great resource to save to your computer for future reference)
Southern Fishing grouper ID
Florida fish ID

I hope these help you out!