Chocolate hind

About this species

Cephalopholis boenak, the chocolate hind, brownbarred rockcod, brown-banded cod or brown-banded rockcod, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a grouper from the subfamily Epinephelinae which is in the family Serranidae which also includes the anthias and sea basses. It is associated with reefs over a wide Indo-Pacific distribution. It is an important species for commercial fisheries in some parts of its range.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Cephalopholis boenak”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 118 records
February: 117 records
March: 122 records
April: 136 records
May: 136 records
June: 158 records
July: 121 records
August: 178 records
September: 195 records
October: 212 records
November: 152 records
December: 118 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 2–41 m · Deepest record: 113 m

0–10 m: 199 records
10–20 m: 82 records
20–30 m: 97 records
30–40 m: 95 records
40–50 m: 51 records
50–60 m: 14 records
60–70 m: 4 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110–120 m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 23–30 °C

22–24 °C: 10 records
24–26 °C: 36 records
26–28 °C: 137 records
28–30 °C: 146 records

Photos

(c) luluchouette, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Jan Ebr & Ivana Ebrová, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Ditch Townsend, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Ewout Knoester, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) portioid, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Bernard DUPONT, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Roger Rittmaster, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Chocolate hind, Bluelined Coralcod, Brown-banded Cod, Brown-banded Rock-cod, Brown-banded Rockcod, Brown-banded Seabass, Brownbarred Grouper, Brown-barred Rockcod, Brownbarred Rockcod, Brown Coral-cod, Brown Coral Cod, Charcoal Grouper, Cherna Chocolate, Chocolate Grouper, chocolate hind, Dusky-banded Rock Cod, Dusty-banded Cod, Overcast Grouper, Rock Cod, spotted-faced rockcod, Vielle Chocolat

Names in 6 more languages

Spanish: Mero chocolate
Filipino: Alatan, Kaltang, Kulapo, Lapu-lapung lupot, Lubo, Sigapo
French: Loche à bandes marron, Vieille chocolat
Japanese: Yamihata, ヤミハタ
Thai: ปลากะรังท้องกำปั่น
Simplified Chinese: 橫帶鱠, 橫紋九刺鮨, 橫紋九棘鱸, 烏絲斑, 石斑, 竹鱠仔, 過魚, 黑絲貓, 黑貓仔

Other scientific names: Bodianus boenak, Cephalapholis boenak, Cephalopholis boenack, Cephalopholis boenacki, Cephalopholis pachycentron, Cephalopholis pachycentrum, Epinephelus boelang, Epinephelus boenack, Epinephelus pachycentron, Epinephelus pachycentrum, Serranus boelang, Serranus boenak, Serranus nigrofasciatus, Serranus pachycentron, Serranus stigmapomus

Similar species

Coral grouper
Cephalopholis miniata
Blue-finned Rock Cod
Cephalopholis microprion
Blacktip grouper
Epinephelus fasciatus

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
1,812 open-data records from 1790 to 2023.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.