Broodstock development and breeding of groupers- Winter School on Recent Advances in Breeding and Larviculture of Marine Finfish and Shellfish

Groupers belonging to the family Serranidae, distributed in the tropical and subtropical seas of the Indo-west Pacific have very high potential as candidate species for aquaculture and have high market value especially in south East Asian countries, Middle East and the Polynesian countries. Groupers are classified in 14 genera of the subfamily Epinephelinae, which comprises at least half the approximately 449 species in the family Serranidae. Throughout most tropic and temperate marine regions, serranids are also kept in aquariums. Maximum size ranges from 12 cm for the Pacific creole-fish (Paranthias colonus) to more than 13 feet (4 m) and e”440 kg for the king grouper or brindle bass (Epinephelus lanceolatus). Several grouper species have been raised on a commercial scale (mainly in Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia and the Middle East), but mostly by growing out captured wild juveniles