Plectropomus areolatus
Passionfruit Coral Trout | Polkadot Cod | Spotted Coral Trout | Square-tail Coral Trout | Squaretail Coral Trout | Squaretail Coralgrouper | Squaretail Grouper | Squaretail Leopardgrouper
Similar Species
Distribution
Tropical Indo-Pacific
Description
Grey body with dense, relatively uniform covering of 5 mm diameter blue spots with dark margins, no elongated spots or stripes on face. Often with 5 darker saddles along back. Some individuals with a brown base colour and black spots. Length to 73 cm.
Information
Max Size: 73 cm
Sea Temperature Range: 24-31.1°C
Depth: 1-20m
Habitat Generalization Index: 1.97
Also referred to as the SGI (Species Generalisation Index), this describes the habitat niche breadth of the species. Species with values less than 15 are found in a relatively narrow range of reef habitat types (specialists), while those over 25 may be found on most hard substrates within their range (generalists). Learn more here.
Conservation and Rarity
IUCN Status: Vulnerable
Occurrence: Infrequent (6.5% of sites)
Occurrence describes how often the species is found on surveys within its distribution. It is calculated as the % of reef sites surveyed by RLS divers across all the ecoregions in which the species has been observed
Abundance: Few (2 per transect)
Abundance is calculated as the average number of individuals recorded per RLS transect, where present.
Edit by: Joe Shields