12 Lb. Brown Leopard Grouper

Brown Leopard Grouper on Cosmoledo Island

Another beautiful, strong-willed grouper. This a 8-10 pound Brown Leopard grouper was caught in around 12-16 feet of water on a sinking line just off a coral formation. Also, of the subfamily Epinephelinae of the family Serrranidae, it is interestingly called by some of the locals as “The Common Coral Trout””.  

It was caught, along with a lot of other species/fish on my recent trip to Cosmo. Not an easy place to get to but worth the long voyage. See short You Tube video:

https://youtube.com/shorts/vozD4FVpf4k?si=R9djQEoyG40VVA7E

This Leopard was extremely aggressive in grabbing the fly. I caught it on a 8 weight on a clear and no-wind day. Perfect combination.

The fish has a nice row of very sharp teeth and ferocious looking eyes which makes it look like the predator which it is.

Behaviorally, the Leopard moves around its reef quite frequently although rarely over 500 meters. It tends to stay at its reef although movement does occur most often due to get to spawning sites.

These groupers will eat pretty much anything – crustaceans, prawns, or other reef fish. Adults also eat the smaller of their species. Although they eat voraciously, they can go for some time without eating. They digest their food quickly, so this generally does not happen. They are ambush and prowling fish. Ambushing using the camouflage on the reefs and prowling when they go after food higher up in the water column.

It, along with the other grouper family members, are a great source of sustainable fish in the Seychelles. It has been difficult to fish farm but maybe we can get to this point. It would be a huge benefit for countries needing high protein food supplements (and there are many).