Name/Relations || Range/Sizes || Habitat & Habits ||  Notes

Common Name:  Warsaw Grouper
Other Common Names:
Scientific name:    Epinephelus nigritus
Family:  Serranidae (Sea Basses)
Related Species:  Jewfish, Nassau Grouper, Red Grouper

Sizes:   To 500  lbs, more common 10lb-85lbs.

Habitat: Juveniles inshore in estuaries and bays, adults in deep water offshore in reefs, wrecks, jetties, pillings, and especially oil platforms, at depths from 40 feet to over 500 feet.

Spawning Habits:  Changes gender- starts as male and becomes female as it ages.  Spawns over reefs and wrecks from 30 feet to 200 feet in depth in early spring. The eggs hatch and young hang near the surface and around vegitation, eventually taking residence inshore, moving offshore within a few years.

Feeding Habits:  If it moves and fits in its mouth, it is dinner.  An occational cruiser, but primarily an ambush predator, that lurks in or near structure in deep water.  When a food item (mostly fishes) approaches, the grouper darts out and engulfs it, then retreats to its den.  Will also eat large  freshly dead fishes if they are presented near its lair.

Notes:   Destin Florida's Favorite Grouper.  Targeted by big game anglers in very deep water, and by anglers around oil platforms in the deep northern Gulf of Mexico, the Warsaw grows to very large proportions over its long lifespan, often striking a bit of fear in deep water divers who see them when working on oil platforms, though they are not known for being aggressively dangerous (just accidentally if you get hit by its body when it tries to swim away). Can be subject to overfishing due to both its sex changing lifestyle and long lifespan, though it is harder to assess its numbers due to its deep water habitat.