The tiger grouper fish eats like a vacuum cleaner, sucking prey through its large mouth. Tropical sheltered reefs in the Western Atlantic and the Caribbean are its natural habitat, where it can mature and grow to about 10 pounds, living in up to 20 feet of water. Resembling codfish, the Mycteroperca tigris has reddish coloring with a obvious stripe pattern. Juveniles are predominantly yellow.

Tiger groupers eat a variety of invertebrates and small fish. After the male fertilizes the eggs, the eggs float to the surface where the larvae also float, then as each takes the form of a grouper, they will descend to the bottom where the reefs give them protection as they grow.

© Copyright Vince Capone 2013