• Home
• About Fishes
• Fish Department
• Collections
• What's new
• Find a fish
  • Species name
  • Common name
  • Type of fish
  • Glossary
• Identify a fish
• Student stuff
• FAQs
• Fish movies
• Fish links

Find a Fish

Queensland Groper
Epinephelus lanceolatus (Bloch, 1790)

Above and below: A 1.7 m long Queensland Groper at a depth of 30 m, Curtain Artificial Reef, off Moreton Island, Queensland, November 2005. Photo © D. Harasti. View larger image.

Photo © D. Harasti. View larger image.

A Queensland Groper at a depth of 20 m, the Cod Hole, Julian Rocks, New South Wales, April 2002. View larger image.

The Queensland Groper has a large mouth and a rounded caudal fin. Juveniles have irregular black and yellow markings. Adults are green-grey to grey-brown with faint mottling. There are numerous small black spots on the fins.

This species grows to at least 2.7 m in length and over 400 kg. It is one of the largest bony fishes, and is the largest on coral reefs.

The Queensland Groper has been implicated in fatal attacks on humans.

It occurs in tropical waters throughout the Indo-Pacific but is also recorded occasionally in temperate waters.

In Australia it is known from the southern coast of Western Australia, around the tropical north of the country and south to the southern coast of New South Wales.

View a map of the collecting localities of specimens in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.

Related links

• Estuary Cod fact sheet
• Flowery Cod fact sheet
• Potato Cod fact sheet
• Queensland Groper on a beach in southern New South Wales
• View the Rockcods, Basslets, Coral Cods, Coral Trouts and Groupers list

Further reading

1. Allen, G.R. 1997. Marine Fishes of Tropical Australia and South-east Asia. Western Australian Museum. Pp. 292.
2. Allen, G.R. & R. Swainston. 1988. The Marine Fishes of North-Western Australia. A Field Guide for Anglers and Divers. Western Australian Museum. Pp. 201.
3. Heemstra, P.C. & J.E. Randall. 1999. Serranidae. in Carpenter, K.E. & V.H. Niem. (eds) FAO species identification guide for Fishery purposes. The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. Vol. 4. FAO. Pp. 2790.
4. Hutchins, B. & R. Swainston. 1986. Sea Fishes of Southern Australia. Complete Field Guide for Anglers and Divers. Swainston Publishing. Pp. 180.
5. Kuiter, R.H. 2000. Coastal Fishes of South-eastern Australia. Gary Allen. Pp. 437.
6. Randall, J.E., Allen, G.R. & R.C. Steene. 1997. Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. Crawford House Press. Pp. 557.