Humpback Grouper / Baramundi Cod - Juvenile

Description:

The Humpback grouper is a medium sized fish which grows up to 70 cm.[1] Its particular body shape makes this grouper quite impossible to mix up with other fishes. Its body is compressed laterally and is relatively high. This stocky and strange visual effect is accented by its concave profile and its elongated snout which gives it a humpback appearance. The young have a white background with round black spots and are continuously swimming head down. The adults have a body colouration with variances of grey and beige with darken blotches variable in size on the body. Small black spots are covering the whole body.

Notes:

Since 2007, Cromileptes altivelis is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the reasons are linked to many facts like the species is naturally rare so very sensible to the increasing rate of harvesting due to its high value in the live food fish trade and to the degradation of its natural habitat. Hatchery production is not intended for re-introduction, but instead for the aquarium trade and is, therefore, not resulting in an increase in the natural population or a decrease in demand in the fish food trade.