- REBREATHERS - SPORT DIVERS ... - Stingray Divers

variety of frangible teeth that are located
near the back of the throat in other large
grouper species.
Call it a test of the stomach’s constitution,
but when something like a large angry blue
crab is turned into lunch, it goes to the belly of
the goliath alive and snapping.
The final element dictating the goliath’s diet
is the manner in which it will hunt. Instead of
roaming long distances, it will often remain in
a relatively small area, settling for whatever
passes by (juvenile’s around mangrove islands
have a considerably small home range, but the
home range of adults may be a lot larger).
2
Off Florida’s East Coast, schools of redear herring and round
scad will make their migration as far south as Jupiter, between late
spring and early summer. As a defense against predation, the small
shiny fish form up in tight polarized clouds, sometimes around
stationary objects, so as to block and confuse rushing attacks from
jacks, mackerel and cuda.
For goliaths, this defense posture becomes easy to manipulate,
allowing the small fish to mass up around them while at the same
time slowly moving away from the wreck or reef where they are
more exposed to attack. Before instinct can warn them of their
mistake, faster moving predators begin their onslaught, driving the
baitfish into a tighter ball up around the goliath’s head. For these big
fish to get a meal, the act is as simple as taking a deep breath.
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007