Leopard Coral Grouper

Plectropomus leopardus

Leopard Coral Grouper

Plectropomus leopardus

Other Common Names
Coral trout

Connected Coasts

Other Common Names

Coral trout

At the Aquarium

Connected Coasts

Appearance

The leopard coral grouper is the only species belonging to the genus Plectropomus with a nearly complete blue ring around each eye. The leopard coral grouper also has smaller and more numerous blue spots on its body than those of other species.

This species varies in color from greenish to reddish brown.

Leopard coral groupers grow to a maximum total length of 120 cm.

Habitat

Coral reefs at depths of 3 to 100 meters.

Diet

Fish and crustaceans.

Life History

Leopard coral groupers form seasonal spawning aggregations usually located on their home reef. On the northern Great Barrier Reef spanning occurs in small groups of about 60 to 130 individuals. The size of spawning groups varies between locations with 20 to 30 fish observed in eastern Malaysia and groups of hundreds of fish observed in parts of Indonesia.

Like other groupers, this species appears to be protogynous hermaphrodites. This means that an individual can function as a female, producing eggs for one or more years and then change sex to male.

Eggs of this species are small and pelagic meaning they float and drift with ocean currents. Once hatched, this species enters a larval stage with limited swimming capabilities so they continue to be dispersed by currents. Eventually they settle on coral reefs with juveniles typically living in shallower areas than adults, especially around coral rubble.

Leopard coral groupers have been recorded to live up to 19 years.

IUCN Status

Least Concern

Ecosystem & Cultural Importance

Leopard coral groupers are caught and are highly valued in commercial and recreational fisheries in different parts of their range.

As carnivorous predators leopard coral groupers are important members in coral reef ecosystems.

Distributed in the western Pacific from Southern Japan to Australia and from Thailand and Malaysia eastward to the Solomon Islands, Caroline Islands and Fiji.

This animal is not native to the Oregon Coast, however is found in the larger Pacific Ocean. It lives in the Aquarium as part of our Connected Coasts gallery.

This species is normally edible, however there have been reports of people who consume leopard coral groupers developing a foodborne illness called ciguatera poisoning. Coral leopard groupers may accumulate high levels of ciguatoxins from eating other species that consume microscopic algae called dinoflagellates that produce the toxins.

Citations & Other Resources

Choat, J.H. and M. Samoilys. 2018. Plectropomus leopardus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018.
Allen, G. R., and Western Australian Museum. 2009. Field guide to marine fishes of tropical Australia and South-East Asia (4th ed.). Western Australian Museum.
Myers, R. F. 1991. Micronesian reef fishes : a practical guide to the identification of the coral reef fishes of the tropical central and western Pacific (2nd ed.). Coral Graphics.
Randall, J. E., G.R. Allen, and R.C. Steene. 1990. Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. University of Hawaii Press.
Zhou, Q., X. Guo, Y. Huang, H. Gao, H. Xu, S. Liu, W. Zheng, T. Zhang, C. Tian, C. Zhu, H. Lin, and S. Chen. 2020. De novo sequencing and chromosomal‐scale genome assembly of leopard coral grouper, Plectropomus leopardus. Molecular Ecology Resources, 20(5), 1403–1413. https://doi.org/10.1111/1755-0998.13207
Holmes, M. J., and R.J. Lewis. 2023. Model of the Origin of a Ciguatoxic Grouper ( Plectropomus leopardus). Toxins, 15(3), 230-. https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins15030230

Leopard Coral Grouper

Leopard Coral Grouper

Other Common Names

At the Aquarium

Appearance

Habitat

Diet

Life History

IUCN Status

Ecosystem & Cultural Importance

Citations & Other Resources

Contact Us

Subscribe to E-Newsletter

About Oregon Coast Aquarium