Nassau Grouper

Photo: Bernat Garrigós · © all rights reserved

Nassau grouper use the wreck's interior as a permanent residence, and the protected status of Banco Chinchorro means individuals here have reached sizes — over 60 cm and 10 kg — that are now exceedingly rare elsewhere in the over-fished Caribbean. Their colouration shifts dramatically between a pale resting pattern and a dark stress pattern, and at El Pionero they are relaxed enough to remain stationary as divers approach within arm's reach. This site provides a rare glimpse of what Nassau grouper populations looked like throughout the Caribbean before commercial fishing collapsed their numbers.