Leopard hind

Cephalopholis leopardus

Fish
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth4–24 m
Water temperature25–30 °C
Best monthsFebruary, March, and April
How commonOccasional

Photo credit: (c) Ewout Knoester, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), uploaded by Ewout Knoester · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist

About this species

Cephalopholis leopardus, also known as the Leopard grouper or Leopard hind, 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 found in the Indo-Pacific.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Cephalopholis leopardus”, 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: 46 records
February: 185 records
March: 151 records
April: 151 records
May: 101 records
June: 142 records
July: 72 records
August: 74 records
September: 93 records
October: 77 records
November: 94 records
December: 27 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 4–24 m · Deepest record: 75.9 m

0–10 m: 193 records
10–20 m: 353 records
20–30 m: 160 records
30–40 m: 9 records
40–50 m: 6 records
50–60 m: 7 records
60–70 m: 1 records
70–80 m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 25–30 °C

24–26 °C: 7 records
26–28 °C: 169 records
28–30 °C: 396 records

Photos

(c) Bernard DUPONT, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Piotr Lukasik, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Storm Martin, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Ewout Knoester, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Jan Ebr & Ivana Ebrová, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Leopard hind, Leopard Grouper, Leopard hind, leopard hind, red-spotted rock cod

Names in 3 more languages

French: Cuisinier, Vielle léopard, Mérou fauve, Mérou léopard, Vieille léopard
Indonesian: Si’umbit Nulalo
Japanese: Minamiisohata, ミナミイソハタ

Other scientific names: Cephalopholis leoparda, Epinephelus leopardus, Epinephelus urodelops, Labrus leopardus, Serranus homfrayi, Serranus leopardus, Serranus spilurus

Similar species

Peacock grouper
Cephalopholis argus
Coral grouper
Cephalopholis miniata
Darkfin hind
Cephalopholis urodeta
Chocolate hind
Cephalopholis boenak
Bluespot Cod
Cephalopholis cyanostigma
Blue-finned Rock Cod
Cephalopholis microprion

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).
1,319 open-data records from 1801 to 2023.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.

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