Olive Grouper, Epinephelus cifuentesi
Olive Grouper, Epinephelus cifuentesi, Juvenile. Fish caught from coastal waters off Point Palmilla, Baja California Sur, May 2017. Length: 15.2 cm (6.0 inches).
Olive Grouper, Epinephelus cifuentesi, Juvenile. Fish caught from coastal waters off Point Palmilla, Baja California Sur, March 2018. Length: 20 cm (7.9 inches).
Olive Grouper, Epinephelus cifuentesi, Juvenile. Fish caught from coastal waters off Point Palmilla, Baja California Sur, November 2019. Length: 21 cm (8.3 inches).
Olive Grouper, Epinephelus cifuentesi. Fish caught from coastal waters off Puerto Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, December 2013. Length 38 cm (11 inches). Note the unusual wide body of this fish!
Olive Grouper, Epinephelus cifuentesi. Fish caught from coastal waters within Bahia Solano, Colombia, June 2019. Length: 46 cm (18 inches). Photograph and identification courtesy of Chris Wheaton, Fullerton, California.
The Olive Grouper, Epinephelus cifuentesi, is a member of the Grouper or Epinephelidae Family, and is known in Mexico as cabrilla gallina. Globally, there are one hundred species in the genus Epinephelus, of which eleven are found in Mexican waters, six in the Atlantic and five in the Pacific Ocean.
The Olive Grouper has a beefy and disproportionately wide body that is a uniform gray-brown color, with green tinges with their fins being darker than their body. They have a small mustache on the upper lip. Their anal fin has 3 spines, the second of which is strong, and 9 rays; their dorsal fin has 11 spines, the longest of which is the second, and 14 to 16 rays. They have 27 to 31 gill rakers and a complete lateral line with a smooth arch extending into the caudal base. The juveniles have a dark line above their jaw.
The Olive Grouper is found within patch reefs that are adjacent to sandy bottoms at depths between 37 m (120 feet) and 122 m (400 feet). They reach a maximum of 1.00 m (3 feet 3 inches) in length and 9.0 kg (20 lbs) in weight. As of January 1, 2023, the International Game Fish Association world record stood at 23.85 kg (52 lbs 9 oz) with the fish caught from coastal waters off Alijo Rocks, Baja California in June 2002. Note that this weight is significantly greater than the established maximum for this species established by the scientific community of 9 kg or 20 lbs. From my personal experiences in catching this species, which are seldom over 30 cm (12 inches) in length. I question the IGFA record for authenticity. The Olive Grouper is a rare, relatively deep water species and 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.
The Olive Grouper was unknown scientifically in Mexican waters until I caught one off the Gordo Bank in 2006. They were previously only known to the Coco and Galapagos Islands and in the coastal waters of Costa Rica and Ecuador. Currently, their documented range in Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean is thus very limited and poorly defined.
The Olive Grouper can be confused with the Gulf Coney, Hyporthodus acanthistius (9 dorsal spines, third, fourth, and fifth being the longest), the Star-studded Grouper, Hyporthodus niphobles (11 dorsal spines, second being the longest), and the Tenspine Grouper, Hyporthodus exsul (10 dorsal spines; 24-27 gill rakers).
From a conservation perspective the Olive Grouper is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. Although somewhat rare and small in stature, they are considered to be an excellent food fish.