Gulf Coney

Gulf Coney, Hyporthodus acanthistius

Gulf Coney, Hyporthodus acanthistius, Juvenile. Fish provided by the commercial fishermen of the greater Los Cabos area, Baja California Sur, January 2009. Length: 28 cm (11 inches).

Gulf Coney, Hyporthodus acanthistius, Juvenile. Fish caught from coastal waters off Puerto Adolfo Lopez Mateos, Baja California Sur, July 2018. Length: 34 cm (13 inches).

Gulf Coney, Hyporthodus acanthistius. Fish caught from coastal waters off La Ribera, Baja California Sur, March 2023. Length: 45 cm (18 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Chip Shapley, Los Barriles, Baja California Sur.

Gulf Coney, Hyporthodus acanthistius.  Fish caught from coastal waters off  Bahia de Los Angeles, Baja California, December 2015. Length: 66 cm (2 feet 2 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Chris Wheaton, Fullerton, California.

Gulf Coney, Hyporthodus acanthistius. Fish caught from coastal waters off Mazatlán, April 2022. Length: 1.0 m (3 feet 3 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Jason Potts, Mazatlán, Sinaloa.

Gulf Coney, Hyporthodus acanthistius Versus Star-studded Grouper, Hyporthodus niphobles, color comparisons. Photograph courtesy of Chris Wheaton, Fullerton, California.

The Gulf Coney, Hyporthodus acanthistius, is a member of the Grouper or Epinephelidae Family, that is also known as the Rooster Hind and in Mexico as baqueta or baqueta rosada. Globally, there are fourteen species in the genus Hyporthodus, of which seven are found in Mexican waters, four in the Atlantic and three in the Pacific Ocean.

The Gulf Coney has a beefy red-brown body with a large head, dark pectoral fins and a prominent dark brown band or mustache above their upper jaw. Their anal fin has 3 spines and 8 rays; their dorsal fin has 11 spines and 16 to 18 rays with the third, fourth and fifth spines being elongated providing a key to identification.

The Gulf Coney is a demersal species found within reefs and sandy bottoms at depths between 12 m (40 feet) and 111 m (365 feet). They reach a maximum length of 1.30 m (4 feet 3 inches) and 15 kg (32 lbs 5 oz) in weight. As of January 1, 2023, the International Game Fish Association world record stood at 11.66 kg (25 lbs 6 oz) with the fish caught in coastal waters off Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico in October 2012. A Grouper Family Weight From Length Conversion Table has been included in this website to allow the accurate determination of a fish weight and a return to the ocean unharmed. They are voracious ambush predators feeding on small fish and benthic crustaceans. They are a deep water species. The Gulf Coney is poorly studied with very limited information available about their lifestyle and behavioral patterns including specific details on age, growth, longevity, movement patterns, diet, habitat use, and reproduction. and very little is known about their behavioral patterns.

The Gulf Coney is a resident of all Mexican waters of the Pacific, but are exceedingly rare in and around the greater Los Cabos area of Baja.

The Gulf Coney is very similar in appearance and can be confused with the Olive Grouper, Epinephelus cifuentesi (wide body; 11 dorsal spines, second being the longest; no mustache) and the Star-studded Grouper, Hyporthodus niphobles (11 dorsal spines, second being the longest; mustache on upper jaw).

From a conservation perspective the Gulf Coney is currently considered to be VUNERABLE with significantly decreasing populations. They considered to be an esteemed food fish and heavily targeted by recreational anglers and subsistence fishermen in the central Gulf.