Coral Grouper

Photo: Ian Shaw · © all rights reserved

Brilliant orange-red coral grouper are abundant across the Prinz Eugen's encrusted hull, their vivid coloration warning rivals and advertising territory across the wreck's surfaces. Ambush predators, they explode from coral overhangs to engulf small fish and crustaceans in a fraction of a second, and their territorial behavior creates a network of defended feeding zones across the wreck that structures the entire small-fish community.