The giant grouper also known as the brindle bass, brown spotted cod, or bumblebee grouper and as the Queensland groper in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, is the largest bony fish found in coral reef

Coral reef

Coral reefs are underwater structures made from calcium carbonate secreted by corals. Coral reefs are colonies of tiny living animals found in marine waters that contain few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups. The polyps...

s, and the aquatic emblem of Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

, Australia. It is found throughout the Indo

Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...

-Pacific

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

 region, with the exception of the Persian Gulf

Persian Gulf

The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...

. The species can grow as large as 2.7 meters (9 ft) long, weighing up to 600 kg (1320 lb); there are unconfirmed reports of it growing much bigger. They are fairly common in shallow waters and feed on a variety of marine life, including small shark

Shark

Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....

s and juvenile sea turtle

Sea turtle

Sea turtles are marine reptiles that inhabit all of the world's oceans except the Arctic.-Distribution:...

s.

This giant fish is similar to the Malabar grouper

Malabar grouper

Malabar grouper, also referred to as the estuary cod, greasy cod, spotted river cod or estuary rock cod, is an Indo-Pacific species of fish in the family Serranidae.-Range:...

, and its colour changes with age. The giant grouper has a large mouth and a rounded tail. Juveniles have irregular black and yellow markings, while adults are green-grey to grey-brown with faint mottling. There are numerous small black spots on the fins.

See also

• Goliath grouper
  Goliath grouper
  The Atlantic goliath grouper or itajara , commonly known as the Jewfish is a large saltwater fish of the grouper family found primarily in shallow tropical waters among coral and artificial reefs at depths anywhere from 15 to 165 feet...
  
  
• Bubba
  Bubba (fish)
  Bubba was a Queensland grouper who resided at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, Illinois. Bubba is believed to be the first fish to undergo chemotherapy. He was often nicknamed "The Super Grouper."-History:...
  
  , a giant grouper famous for being the first fish to undergo chemotherapy.