Name/Relations || Range/Sizes || Habitat & Habits || Notes
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| Changes color to suit environment and can vary from gray to deep red, but retains dashed lines |
Common Name:
Scamp
Other Common Names:
Scientific name:
Mycteroperca phenax
Family:
Serranidae (Sea Basses)
Related Species:
Black Grouper, Gag Grouper, Yellowfin Grouper
| Range: New England to the Caribbean, including the Gulf of Mexico, though far less common north of Georgia in the Atlantic. |
Sizes: To 10 lbs, common 1lb-4lbs.
Habitat: Juveniles inshore in estuaries and bays, adults in deeper water inshore and offshore in reefs, wrecks, jetties, pilings to depths over 300 feet. Adults occasional inhabit structure in passes and channels inshore.
Spawning Habits: Spawns over reefs and wrecks from 30 feet to 200 feet in depth, especially around the sea mounts off of western Florida in early spring. The eggs hatch and young hang near the surface and around vegetation, eventually taking residence inshore.
Feeding Habits: If it moves and fits in its mouth, it is dinner. An occasional cruiser, but primarily an ambush predator, that lurks in or near structure. When a food item (mostly crabs, shrimp, squid, octopus, and minnows) approaches, the grouper darts out and engulfs it, then retreats to its den. Will also eat freshly dead fishes if they are presented near its lair, which may be a reef, dock piling, wreck, or jetty.
Notes: Another staple of the Party Boat anglers through out Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas. It is a fireplug of a fighter, and a prime light tackle target. Loves jumbo shrimp (alive), finger mullet, and pinfish, but is also often caught on snapper rigs baited with cigar minnows and squid. Will also take jigs, especially if tipped with squid, and fished on 10lb-20lb test mono or spectra. Also excellent table fare.