• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.380-392
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• 2023

Groupers (Family Epinephelidae) are commonly caught in data-poor small-scale multi-species fisheries for sale on both export and domestic markets. This study presents data on the species composition and size/life-stage structure of Epinephelus spp. groupers caught by small-scale fishers and sold locally in the Indonesian province of South Sulawesi. Data were collected from fishing ports and local markets at 12 sites representing the three seaways around South Sulawesi (Makassar Strait, Flores Sea, Gulf of Bone). Each specimen (n = 3,398) was photographed alongside an object of known length, and total length (TL) was obtained using the Rapid Scaling on Object (RASIO). Of the 23 species identified, four (Epinephelus areolatus, Epinephelus ongus, Epinephelus quoyanus, and Epinephelus fasciatus) collectively comprised 69% of the catch, while the 13 least abundant species contributed less than 5%. The catch was dominated (67%) by the subadult life-stage, with just under 20% in the adult class. Juveniles dominated the catch of Epinephelus fuscoguttatus, a valuable export commodity. Observations of early maturity as well as the sizeable gap between length at first capture (Lc) and length at first maturity (Lm) indicate recruitment overfishing of most species, with the notable exception of Epinephelus rivulatus. The proportion of adult fish was low (≈5%-30%) for the twelve most abundant species (E. areolatus, E. ongus, Epinephelus quoyanus, E. fasciatus, Epinephelus coioides, Epinephelus faveatus, Epinephelus sexfasciatus, Epinephelus maculatus, Epinephelus bleekeri, Epinephelus corallicola, E. fuscoguttatus, Epinephelus polyphekadion). For two moderately abundant species (E. faveatus and E. malabaricus), TL < Lm for all specimens. The limited data available indicate spawning ratio is lower than reported from deep-water fisheries of E. areolatus and E. coioides. The results call for targeted research to fill knowledge gaps regarding the biology and ecology of groupers exploited mainly for domestic markets; highlight the need for species-level data to inform management policies such as minimum legal size regulations; and can contribute towards species-level status assessments.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.566-571
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• 2020

To classify a presumed hybrid of imported grouper species acquired from the National Fishery Products Quality Management Service, maternal and paternal lines were identified based on partial sequencing of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase 1 (co1) and nuclear recombination activation gene 1 (rag1) genes. The matrilineal species was identified as Epinephleus moara by a partial (760 bp) co1 sequence. Ambiguous sequences with base pairs belonging to E. moara or E. lanceolatus were found in a total of 15 different base pairs in the partial 1,159 bp of the rag1 gene, and the patrilineal species was found to be E. lanceolatus. Therefore, all of the groupers examined in the study were identified to be hybrids of E. moara and E. lanceolatus. In addition, a fast and convenient method using random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) was established for hybrid discrimination. Hybrids between E. moara ♀ and E. lanceolatus ♂ were identified through specific bands of 387 bp and 433 bp in PRIMER 6.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.121-128
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• 2022

Recent studies revealed that histone proteins are involved in innate immune responses during pathogen invasion as well as DNA packing. This study characterized the histone genes (H2A.V) of sevenband groupers and analyzed gene expression in NNV-infected sevenband groupers. The open reading frame (ORF) of H2A.V is 387 bp which encoded 128 amino acid residues. The deduced amino acid sequence of H2A.V harbor a highly conserved domain for H2A/H2B/H3 and H2A_C binding domain. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis showed that H2A.V had a high gene expression level in the brain and blood after being NNV-infected. An increase in extracellular histone protein in the blood has been identified as a biomarker for vascular function in humans. More research is required to understand histone's immune response at the protein level or in aquatic animals.

• Journal of Aquaculture
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.55-61
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• 1997

The experiment was conducted to understand the effect of HCG upon ovulation induction and egg maturation in the sevenband grouper, Epinephelus septemfasciatus, as a part of the research for its resources management and seed production. Three different size groups of sevenband groupers showing 300~400g, 1,500~2,000g and 2,500~4,000g, were collected from June to August, 1996. They were treated two or three times with HCG (500~1,000 IU/kg). Gonadal development of the sevenband groupers were examined using the paraffin section method and then stained with haematoxylin and eosin. When smaller groups of sevenband grouper having 300~400g, 1,500~2,00g and 2,500~3,200g in weight were treated two or three time with HCG 9500~1,000 IU/g), their gonads contained oogonia, oocytes with the size of 20~30${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$, and stroma tissues. However, in case of two HCG treatments with a dosage of 1,000 IU/kg on sevenband groupers of 3,400~4,000g, both healthy eggs of $800\mu$m in diameter and regressing eggs were ovulated. A sevenband grouper of 4,000g obvulated 4,252 eggs in total. Of these, healthy and regressing eggs turned out to be 20.8% and 79.2%, respectively. In addition, previtellogenic oocytes of around $50\mu$m, oocytes of 20~$30\mu$m, and ovulation trace were also observed in the gonad.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.414-422
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• 2004

To infer phylogenetic relationships among Epinephelus species inhabiting coastal regions of Korean peninsula, mitochondrial cytochrome b genes from 9 species belonging to the subfamily Epinephelinae were PCR-amplified, cloned and sequenced. Aligned cytochrome b sequences of 10 species containing one additional sequence from GenBank were 1,140 base pairs in length, including 439 variable and 330 parsimony informative sites. The cytochrome b genes of 10 species, as other vertebrates studied to date, exhibit unequal base compositions: an entirely low G content ($15.2{\pm}0.3{\%}$on average) and almost equal T, C and A contents ($29.3{\pm}0.8{\%},\;30.7{\pm}1.0{\%},\;and\;24.8{\pm}0.5{\%}$ on average, respectively).In third codon positions, transitional substitutions especially between Epinephelus species and outgroup species are almost certainly saturated or near saturation. Phylogenetic analyses were performed with sequence data from 8 Epinephelus species and 2 outgroup species (Cephalopholis urodela and Vaviola louti) by using distance-based (neighbor-joining and minimum evolution) and parsimony-based (maximum parsimony) methods. The results showed that the monophyly of the genus Epinephelus was supported by relatively high bootstrap values. However, phylogenetic relationships among E. areolatus, E. moara, E. septemfasciatus, and Epinephelus sp were poorly resolved. Within the genus Epinephelus, three resolved monophyletic groups were found: clade 1 included E. akaara and E. awoara;, clade 2 included E. fasciatus and E. merra; and clade 3 included E. akaara, E. awoara, E. fasciatus, E. merra, E. areolatus, E. moara, E. septemfasciatus and Epinephelus Sp.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.99-104
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• 2021

In this study, we investigated safety and efficacy of a low temperature immunization protocol with NNV in red spotted grouper, Epinephelus akaara and long tooth grouper, Epinephelus bruneus and seven band grouper, Hyporthodus septemfasciatus. Further, growth rate between immunized and naïve fish was evaluated during the experiment to check side effect of immunization. Three grouper species were immunized by immersion method with live NNV at 10^5.0 TCID₅₀/mL at 16.5℃ for 30 min and reared for 120 days at natural sea water temperature. To evaluate growth rate, total length and wet weight was measured 7 times after immunization. Immunized three grouper species were challenged by intramuscular inoculation with NNV at 10^4.2 TCID₅₀/100 µL/fish. Immunization at low temperature with live NNV did not show any clinical symptoms of infection, mortality and inhibition of growth. After challenge, cumulative mortality of naïve seven band grouper, red spotted grouper, long tooth grouper were 45, 10, 20 %, respectively. However no mortality was observed at immunized groupers. Thus, it was demonstrated that immunization at low temperature with live NNV are able to protect three different species of groupers without inhibition of growth.

• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.16-20
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• 2015

The hatchability of the artificially induced hybrid between two groupers (family Serranidae), red spotted grouper (Epinephelus akaara) and brown-marbled grouper (E. fuscoguttatus) that lives in different habit environment was investigated. There was no difference in the required time of each developmental stages after fertilization between hybrid (red spotted grouper ♀ ${\times}$ brown-marbled grouper ♂) and purebred (red spotted grouper ♀${\times}$♂) and required 25.6 hours to hatch at incubated in $25^{\circ}C$, but a noticeable unequal cleavage in cell size was observed in hybrid eggs unlikely to purebred. The hatching rate of fertilized eggs of hybrid was generally low across the four incubate temperatures (22, 25, 28, $31^{\circ}C$) with highest 9.8% in $25^{\circ}C$. This study demonstrated the possibility of artificial hybridization between two groupers, red spotted grouper and brown-marbled grouper, thus preparing the groundwork on developmental characteristics, deformities of hatched larvae and early survival ability for further studies on aquaculture.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.107-113
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• 1999

The pathogenicity of the fish nodavirus causing viral nervous necrosis (VNN) of sevenband grouper, Epinephelus septemfasciatus was examined in sevenband grouper and other marine fish by intramuscular injection. Sevenband groupers of 27~104 g in body weight were highly susceptible to the fish nodavirus, but yellowtail (537 g in body weight), red seabream (207 g), rock bream (43 g), flounder (41 g), tiger puffer (27 g) and rockfish (94 g) of the sizes used to this experiment were not. The pathogenicity of the viral agent to the sevenband grouper was high without regard to fish sizes at rearing water temperature over $20^{\circ}C$, but not at $15^{\circ}C$. Therefore, susceptibility of sevenband grouper to the viral agent causing VNN was thought to be water temperature-dependent rather than fish size (age-dependent). Compared to the infectivity of the viral agent to sevenband grouper with artificial infection methods, fish were successfully affected by intramuscular, intraperitoneal, oral, dipping and cohabitation administrations although there were slight differences in mortalities among infection methods. And survival sevenband grouper after infection with the fish nodavirus was resistant to the reinfection for a long time.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.111-116
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• 2012

Prevalence of viral nervous necrosis (VNN) in sevenband grouper Epinephelus septemfasciatus farms was investigated during the period of 2006-2008. The outbreak of the VNN was observed from August (water temperature: $24-26^{\circ}C$) to September or October ($20-25^{\circ}C$). The viral infection resulted in acute or chronic mortality of the host, where the mortality rate of juvenile fish was higher than that of the adult fish. Phylogenetic analysis based on partial RNA2 coat protein gene nucleotide sequences revealed that all the isolates from sevenband grouper were classified into the genotype redspotted grouper nervous necrosis virus (RGNNV). In conclusion, VNN of juvenile and adult sevenband groupers during the summer season (July to October, water temperature: about $24^{\circ}C$) was caused by virus belonging to the genotype RGNNV.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.457-466
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• 2017

Survival of embryos largely depends on yolk processing during early development. Proteolytic enzymes, cathepsin B & D (ctsb & ctsd) are known to have some important roles in yolk processing of various fish species. Mature female red spotted groupers were injected with human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) to induce ovulation. The fertilized eggs and embryos were sampled at 0, 4 and 24 HPF (hours post fertilization). Survivals of each groups of embryos were checked at 24 and 48 HPH (hours post hatching). Transcripts of ctsb & ctsd showed the highest level at 0 HPF and relatively high at 4 HPF, but greatly decreased at 24 HPF. In bad egg quality group (BE, embryos survived until 24 HPH), transcript level of ctsb at 4 HPF were significantly lower than the transcript level at the same stage in good egg quality group (GE, embryos survived until 48 HPH) while no significant change of ctsb transcript level was observed at 0 or 24 HPF between BE and GE. Transcript level of ctsd was decreased at 24 HPF, but the difference was not as strong as the case of ctsb transcript. These results suggest that maternal ctsb transcript rather than ctsd transcript is likely to be involved in egg quality resulting in the difference of survival rate of embryos at early developmental period in this species.