Cephalopholis spiloparaea is perhaps the most common grouper in the Indo-Pacific below 40 meters, and it can be confused with C. aurantia, which has a black line preceding the thin blue-white band on its caudal fin.
Details
§ 01
size
Max. 22 cm
color
Light red, mottled and blotched with brownish-red. Caudal fin with a bluish white posterior margin that becomes sub-marginal at corners. Distal margin of soft dorsal and anal fins with a pale bluish margin.
This species is only found in isolated areas. It lives in coral reefs with clear waters at depths ranging from 15 to 108 meters, with the majority of individuals being found at depths of 40 meters or less.
distinctive characters
The dorsal fin has nine spines and fourteen to sixteen rays, the anal fin has three spines and nine rays, and the pectoral fin has seventeen to nineteen rays. The body depth is between two point six and three point two in standard length, the eyes are large and the inter-orbital area is flat. The maxilla is scaly, the preopercle is rounded and very finely serrate with a shallow notch, and the lower edge is fleshy. The subopercle and interopercle are smooth with minute serrae, and the pelvic fins do not reach the anus.