Captured Species
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Photo	Names
Illustrations by Chris Van Dusen Images Courtesy of Seafood Business Magazine	Latin: Mycteroperca spp. French: Meirou German: Zackenbarsch Spanish: Garupa (Mexico), Mero (elsewhere) Russian: Americanskaya cherna Japanese: Mahata

Description

The red grouper is one of over 400 species of the serranid family, dozens of which are traded commercially. Groupers range in size from 5 cm (2 in) to 4 m (13 ft).

Markets	Commercial Aspects
Exporting Countries Capture: United States, Mexicon, Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, South Africa, Indonesia, Southeast Asia Primary Consumers United States, Japan, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy	The U.S harvests over 9 million pounds of grouper annually.

Production Trends

Diet/Health Info

U.S stocks are fully utilized and harvests are limited to protect the species. Due to these limitations red grouper is often replaced commercially with gag grouper. Harvests are expected to remain relatively constant due to production limitations.

Since the red grouper grows in tropical waters there is the threat of ciguatera poisoning. Ciguatera is found in fish that feed on a specific plankton around underwater reefs. The plankton creates a toxin that accumulated in the fishes tissues. The toxin does not affect the fish but is harmful for human consumption. Since the ciguatera toxin is area specific and not species specific, buyers should know the orgin of the fish they purchase.

The Global Supply

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