Orange-spotted grouper

About this species

The orange-spotted grouper, also known as the brown-spotted rockcod, estuary cod, estuary rockcod, goldspotted rockcod, greasy cod, North-west groper, orange spotted cod or blue-and-yellow grouper, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a grouper from the subfamily Epinephelinae which is part of the family Serranidae, which also includes the anthias and sea basses. It has an Indo-Pacific distribution and is found in marine and brackish waters.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Orange-spotted grouper”, 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: 84 records
February: 106 records
March: 91 records
April: 119 records
May: 153 records
June: 113 records
July: 98 records
August: 147 records
September: 158 records
October: 203 records
November: 117 records
December: 75 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 1–59 m · Deepest record: 326 m

0–10 m: 95 records
10–20 m: 39 records
20–30 m: 45 records
30–40 m: 57 records
40–50 m: 47 records
50–60 m: 23 records
60–70 m: 13 records
70–80 m: 8 records
80–90 m: 6 records
90–100 m: 1 records
100–110 m: 2 records
110+ m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 21–30 °C

20–22 °C: 1 records
22–24 °C: 33 records
24–26 °C: 71 records
26–28 °C: 130 records
28–30 °C: 119 records

Photos

(c) Afsar Nayakkan, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) portioid, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Vladislav Isaev, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) brendanboyd, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Ewout Knoester, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Patrick Connolly, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Orange-spotted grouper, Brown-spotted Grouper, Brown-spotted Rockcod, Estuary Cod, Estuary Rock Cod, Gold Spotted Rock Cod, Greasy Cod, North-west Groper, Orange-spotted Cod, Orange Spotted Cod, orange-spotted grouper, Orangespotted Grouper, Rockcod, Spotted Cod, Spotted River Cod

Names in 7 more languages

Spanish: Mero de pintas naranjas, Mero Moteado
Filipino: Alatan, Kaltang, Kulapo, Lapu-lapung lupot, Lubo, Sigapo
French: Loche à taches oranges, Mérou taches orange, Mérou à taches oranges, Mérou taches oranges
Indonesian: Kerapu lumpur
Japanese: Chairomaruhata, チャイロマルハタ
Thai: ปลากะรังจุดน้ำตาล, ปลาเก๋าดอกแดง
Simplified Chinese: 點帶石斑魚

Other scientific names: Bola coioides, Cephalopholis nebulosus, Epinephelus coiodes, Epinephelus nebulosus, Epinephelus suillus, Homalogrystes guntheri, Serranus nebulosus, Serranus suillus

Similar species

Blacktip grouper
Epinephelus fasciatus
Honeycomb grouper
Epinephelus merra
Areolate grouper
Epinephelus areolatus
Garrupa
Epinephelus coeruleopunctatus
Brown-marbled grouper
Epinephelus fuscoguttatus
Starspotted grouper
Epinephelus hexagonatus

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).
1,125 open-data records from 1822 to 2023.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.