Check List 18(4): 793-797, doi: 10.15560/18.4.793
First records of Epinephelus coeruleopunctatus (Bloch, 1790), Whitespotted Grouper, (Teleostei, Epinephelidae) in the southern Arabian Gulf
Daniel Mateos-Molina‡, Ivonne Bejarano§, Matthew T. Craig|¶‡ Emirates Nature - WWF, Dubai, United Arab Emirates§ American University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates| National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, La Jolla, United States of America¶ NOAA, San Diego, United States of America
Corresponding author: Daniel Mateos-Molina ( dmateos@enwwf.ae ) Academic editor: Kar-Hoe Loh © Daniel Mateos-Molina, Ivonne Bejarano, Matthew T. Craig. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC0 Public Domain Dedication. Citation:
Mateos-Molina D, Bejarano I, Craig MT (2022) First records of Epinephelus coeruleopunctatus (Bloch, 1790), Whitespotted Grouper, (Teleostei, Epinephelidae) in the southern Arabian Gulf. Check List 18(4): 793-797. https://doi.org/10.15560/18.4.793 |  |
Abstract
Two individuals of Epinephelus coeruleopunctatus (Bloch, 1790), Whitespotted Grouper, were recorded in an offshore marine protected area of the United Arab Emirates on the Arabian Gulf coast at depths of 5 m and 10 m. These are the first records of the species in the southern Arabian Gulf, and they add this species to the few groupers that inhabit one of the most extreme environmental waters of the world.
Keywords
Marine Protected Areas, United Arab Emirates, fish, reef, marine, fisheries