any ideas what this little grouper is? 550 ft

[Belize]

[islandshark633]

possibly a juvenile Yellow Edge described-

' juveniles have pearly spots arranged in regular rows and a saddle shaped blotch on top of caudal peduncle not exceeding below lateral line'

you have some shadow on the photo near the tail so its hard to tell if thats the blotch or not

its not a - misty, warsaw, red or snowy so I vote for juvenile yellow edge.

[kyle]

I would say its a small red grouper

[miamiangler1]

Hi, it`s a red grouper ... catch plenty here in Miami... they are biger in deeper waters .. good size to eat

[Boboe]

That's a red grouper, without a doubt. That's pretty deep for him to be, but it happens. We called them "Slop buckets" because of their penchant for eating the most rotten thing you could put down to the bottom, regardless of the size of the bait.

Something we saw quite often in red grouper the Panhandle was worms. They are blackish green, about 1/4" thick, and <1" long. You can flick them out with your fillet knife, or you could just cook the little bastard and probably never notice it.

[Boboe]

Originally Posted by islandshark633

possibly a juvenile Yellow Edge described-

' juveniles have pearly spots arranged in regular rows and a saddle shaped blotch on top of caudal peduncle not exceeding below lateral line'

you have some shadow on the photo near the tail so its hard to tell if thats the blotch or not

its not a - misty, warsaw, red or snowy so I vote for juvenile yellow edge.

Even very small yellow edge will have the bright yellow edges on his fins. I've caught them as small as about 12" long and they had the edges. They're also less red than a red grouper. They're more of a light tan, with a tinge of pink. The body shape is the exact same, however. This fish is a red grouper, which has a minimum size of 20" and bag limit of 2, at least in the Gulf.

[Disco Lady]

CONO!!!!!!!! Thats a red grouper, mon.

[DIRTYFOOT2]

RED, never seen one with worms though. Wonder why your reds in the gulf are wormy Bo. Strawberrys and Aj's are the wormy critters in my neck O' the woods. Worms are so thick in those species I don't even keep em.
Later,
DIRTYFOOT2 :twisted:

[Boboe]

The worms in AJ's are different than the ones in red groupers. The AJ worms look like a piece of yellow angel hair pasta all clumped up into a squiggly mass. The red grouper worms are about 1/4" thick, 1" long, straight, and green/black.

AJ's in the Atlantic are notorious for being slam full of worms. You can't sell a jack from the Atlantic commercially for more than catfood prices. Not so in the Gulf. They're usually worm-free, and if they have any worms, they're in distinct places: extreme tail end of the fillet, right behind the gut cavity, and very very rarely right below the dorsal fin. AJ's are fished commercially...with a commercial grade jack having to be 40" or 42" fork I believe. AJ is on the menu in restaurants on the Gulf.

I've had customers who'd fished on the east side hear that we were going to fish for jacks on our charter. They'd be thinking, "Whoa, wait a second here pal..." Then we explained how ours weren't wormy like the Atlantic ones were and everything was ok

...and what's a "Strawberry?"

[DIRTYFOOT2]

Strawberry grouper. They look more like a rock hind than a grouper. Color varies a little, depending on location. Usually light red , covered with darker red spots. Never bigger than 3-4 lbs, that I've seen. Finally got back offshore this weekend. Good, little slow but steady snapper bite. Sundays trip was a smorgasborg. Dolphin, kings and skipjacks on the AM troll, African pomps, snapper and jacks bottom fishing through the day. All in all a spectacular weekend. One of those weekends where you realize why you put up with the traffic, taxes, and general pain in the ass of shore life in South Fla.

Take care,
DIRTYFOOT2

[Boboe]

Ahh, ok. I know what you're talking about. One of those freckled looking hinds that y'all have so many of down south. Cool little grouper