Species Profile: Rock Hind (Epinephelus adscensionis)

This handsome little grouper is fairly common in Louisiana, sometimes taken by anglers targeting snapper at relatively shallow rigs. But though it occurs all across the state, rock hind is not abundant in any location, so most fishermen who reel one in haven’t seen it before and may not be able to identify it. In fact, it is very tasty, has no size limit, and is counted in the five-per-person aggregate bag limit for black, gag, red, yellowfin, scamp, yellowmouth, yellowedge, misty, snowy and red hind groupers.

Identification of the rock hind can be a bit tricky, since there are other spotted reddish groupers. But the spots in the rock hind tend to be smaller on the back and larger on the belly, and it has dark blotches on its back. The species most likely to be confused with the rock hind is the red hind (Epinephelus guttatus) which has small red spots all across the body, and each red spot has a small dark fleck in the center. The lower fins (pelvic and anal) and tail (caudal) fin of the red hind are also black-rimmed.

Another species in the same genus that might cause confusion is the speckled hind (Epinephelus drummondhayi, limit one per vessel), but it has light spots on a reddish-brown background. Additionally, the yellowfin grouper (Mycteroperca venenosa) has reddish spots and sometimes exhibits an overall reddish color phase. This one is easy to separate because the pectoral (side) fins are always rimmed in yellow or orange.

The genus Epinephelus contains more than 180 species, with examples in seas all over the world. The rock hind is named for its habitat preference. It is almost always found on hard structure. Though seen at shallower oil rigs, some specimens come from sites more than 100 feet in depth. It tends to be solitary, and feeds mostly on crabs (70 percent of the diet) and fish (20 percent). The largest specimen on record weighed 8.99 lbs. In Louisiana, our top record (8.74 lbs) is very close to the maximum size, but the range of records go down to 2.19 pounds and leaves plenty of room for more entries.

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