- REBREATHERS - SPORT DIVERS ... - Stingray Divers

Stepping off the Republic IV, I began
the 60-foot descent to the familiar
remains of the MG-111 cargo
barge. As its derelict steel structure
came into focus, so did another nowfamiliar
sight: grouped tightly around
the wreck were some two dozen really
big fish. And they weren’t scared.
These gray-and-tan behemoths,
which ranged from at least 100 pounds
to well over 400 pounds, sported
distinctive curved tails, small beady
eyes and rotund physiques peppered
with black spots. They hovered with
mouths agape, ready to inhale any
prey that came within range. There
was no mistaking them for anything
but goliath grouper.
And unlike most other large
predatory fish – including many sharks
– they didn’t back off as I approached.
Closing to within a few feet of one
particularly large fish caused no visible
reaction. It held its ground and gave
me a look as if to say, “O.K., we’re all
here, now what?”
Coming face-to-face with a fish the
size of 55-gallon drum is definitely
an experience no diver will forget
– especially if they’ve ever heard
those urban myths about divers being
swallowed whole by these outsized
members of the grouper clan. But after
the initial adrenaline rush of confronting
something bigger than you wears off,
most divers soon discover that goliath
groupers (Epinephelus itajara) are not
the ferocious brutes some would have
us believe.
2
In fact, when confronted by divers,
goliath’s turn into rather big babies. If
threatened, they sound off with a short
series of loud booms. In grouper speak,
they’re saying “you’re in my territory,
go away!” But such displays are just
bark, not bite. The moment their bluff
is called, these big fish will likely turn
to the safety of a deep hole in a reef
or wreck.
The bigger the wreck the greater the
odds of finding one, two, three or more
goliath grouper. Why do these fish favor
wrecks over natural structures? Look at it
this way: where would you want to live, in a
mansion or in a tent?
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007