Great Grouper Story

[yoda4x4]

Brian,

That's a really nice pic of one helluva monster Goliath Grouper. You must be brave or something, but there's no way I'd be touching the lips of any underwater creature. Well, with the exception being a mermaid of course

David

 

[bdombrowski]

I've been diving in southwest Florida for 10 years and see Goliath (Jewfish) Grouper all the time. They are almost getting out of control in population now. Recently, I've seen over a dozen at a time congregating on a wreck. They sometimes "thud" to try to scare you off, but I've only seen them get aggressive with spearfisherman bringing up their catch. They like an easy meal.

This was a rather strange experience in that this particular Goliath grouper was acting more like a Red or Nassau grouper. It was like a puppy dog. The video that my buddy in the picture shot is a hoot to watch.

Regards,

Brian

 

[yoda4x4]

Where's Sarasota? I've been down to Naples and dove with ScubAdventures off of Marco Island. Seen some Goliaths down there. Ugly fish, but really kind of cool. My best memory of them was my 2nd to last dive down there. My buddy and I just got down the anchor line and got ourselves settled down. I turned around as I caught some Barracuda out of the corner of my mask. I turned around to look upward towards them and then I saw it... There were 4/5 Goliaths right next to one another and were just like hovering shadows in the water. Really sweet pic. Too bad the picture I took of it didn't come out at all.

In any case, Goliaths are just cool fish to see. Glad to see they made a comeback.

David

 

[ReefGuy]

Sarasota is about 1 1/2 hours North on I-75 from Naples. Just North of the sprawling Punta Gorda metropolis. Just South of Tampa.