Researchers Felicia Coleman and Christopher Koenig of the Florida State University Coastal and Marine Laboratory have shown that red grouper play a critical role in creating a protective habitat for many sea creatures. “Watching these fish dig holes was amazing enough,” Coleman said, “but then we realized that the sites they created served to attract mates, beneficial species such as cleaner shrimp that pick parasites and food scraps off the resident fish, and a variety of prey species for the red grouper.”

Coleman and Koenig’s paper was published in Jan. 9 in The Open Fish Science Journal, and the study looked at both adult and juvenile grouper in waters off the West Florida Shelf. “We suspected that the groupers created the habitat,” Coleman said. “We found through a series of experiments that they not only dug the holes but also maintained them by carrying mouthfuls of sediment from the center of the pit to the periphery and expelling them through their gills and mouths, then brushing off the rocks with their tail fins.” The study demonstrates the interdependence of species and shows how overfishing of the red grouper could endanger the habitat of several other species.

Co-authors of the paper include colleagues at the United States Geological Survey, Oregon State University, and the National Marine Fisheries Service. To learn more, go to http://pathways.fsu.edu/News/Red-grouper-is-Frank-Lloyd-Wright-of-the-sea