Comb grouper
(Mycteroperca acutirostris)

Mycteroperca acutirostris the comb grouper, western comb grouper or wavy-lined grouper, is a species of grouper from the family Serranidae from the warmer waters of the western Atlantic Ocean.

Mycteroperca acutirostris has a greyish brown head and body which is marked with irregular white spots. It has 3-4 dark brown lines which start behind the eye and run along the underside of the body as dark undulating stripes.

The body is laterally compressed and reaches a maximum length of 80 cm. It normally reaches around 4 kg in weight, although there are reports of specimens weighing up to 10 kg. The record rod caught fish was 5.25 kg which was caught off the Cagarras Islands in Brazil in 2004, while the spear fishing record is 10.1 kg.

The dorsal fin has 11 spines and 15-17 soft rays, the anal fin has 3 spines and 10-12 soft rays.

There is a dark brown stripe which runs from the maxillary streak to margin of the preopercle; the anal and dorsal fins are darker with white spots and streaks.

The body is oblong and compressed with a depth of 2.7-3.2 times in standard length. It has a convex interorbital area; angular preopercle which has enlarged serrations at its angle which forms an indistinct lobe; the anterior and posterior nostrils are differing in size.

Mycteroperca acutirostris occurs in the warmer waters of the western Atlantic from Bermuda, the northwestern Gulf of Mexico south to Brazil. The distribution is apparently disjunct with few reports of M. acutirostris from the Caribbean or north-eastern Brazil.