On Dec. 29, 2019 a fisherman reeled in a 350-pound Warsaw grouper in a body of water smaller than 600 feet off the coast of southwest Florida.
The large fish caught is the oldest specimen of its kind that the research group has studied, according to a post shared by the fish and wildlife conservation commission. The post also states “the otolith from this fish was extremely valuable as samples from larger and older fish are rare.”
“Warsaw are characterized by an elongated second dorsal spine” the commission wrote. “They’re the only grouper with 10 dorsal spines; all others have 11. Although adults usually occur in depths of 180-1700 ft, juveniles are occasionally seen around jetties and shallow-water reefs in the northern Gulf.”
