Hawaiian grouper

Hawaiian grouper
Conservation status
Near Threatened  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Perciformes
Family:	Serranidae
Genus:	Hyporthodus
Species:	H. quernus
Binomial name
Hyporthodus quernus (fishbase.org, 2012)

The Hawaiian grouper (Hyporthodus quernus) (formerly known as Epinephelus quernus) is a species of fish in the Serranidae family. A large inquisitive inhabitant endemic to the Hawaiian Archipelago (most common around Midway and Kure Atoll) and Johnston Island. The Hawaiian grouper prefers deep cool waters and has been sighted at 380 ft. It is carnivorous and feeds on fishes and large invertebrates, attaining a length and weight of at least 3 feet and 50 pounds. Hawaiian groupers are protogynious and reproduce externally (fertilization in open water/substratum egg scatterers). They are nonguarders of their eggs once laid. A long-lived, commercially important species (member of the 'Deep Seven') and highly sensitive to over-harvesting, the species is currently listed on the 2011 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as near threatened (NT). The Hawaiian name for this grouper is hāpu‘u, juveniles known as hāpu‘upu‘u.

Sources

• Cornish, A. 2004. Epinephelus quernus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 4 August 2007.
• Heemstra, P.C. and J.E. Randall 1993 FAO Species Catalogue. Vol. 16. Groupers of the world (family Serranidae, subfamily Epinephelinae). An annotated and illustrated catalogue of the grouper, rockcod, hind, coral grouper and lyretail species known to date. Rome: FAO. FAO Fish. Synop. 125(16):382 p.
• Craig, M.T. and P.A, Hastings 2007 A molecular phylogeny of the groupers of the subfamily Epinephelinae (Serranidae) with revised classification of the epinephelini. Ichthyol. Res. 54:1-17.