Photo credit: Dean Uyeda
The Nassau Grouper, Epinephelus striatus, is listed as ‘ENDANGERED’ on the IUCN Red List of Threatened SpeciesTM. This large reef fish is found in shallow waters of the tropical western Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.
Historically, the Nassau Grouper was one of the most important commercially harvested fishes throughout the region, with its habit of gathering in huge numbers in predictably located spawning (reproductive) aggregations making it an easy target. However, over the last few decades, the species has undergone a significant decline throughout its range, and is now commercially extinct in a number of areas.
Following massive lobbying by conservationists, and scientific studies, the Nassau Grouper has received some of the protection needed if numbers are to recover from past exploitation. Fishing for Nassau Grouper is banned in US Federal waters, including Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, spawning sites are protected in the Cayman Islands, and fishing is banned in Belize, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic during the spawning season.
Geogrpahic Range of the Nassau Grouper
Credit: IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™
To learn more about Nassau Groupers, click here. Or visit the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ by clicking their logo below.
To learn more about the Bush Warriors “Species of the Day” feature, please click here and read up on our initiative to raise awareness about the loss of earth’s biodiversity.
