Gag grouper

The gag grouper is a drab, mottled-gray fish lacking the distinguishing features of other groupers. From the picture, this gag grouper appears to have blue eyes. One of the most abundant groupers in the Southeast and harvested in U.S. waters from North Carolina to the Gulf of Mexico. Although gag groupers are abundant in the South Atlantic, the population has declined in the Gulf of Mexico, possibly due to a major “red tide” event (an algal bloom that releases potent neurotoxins) in 2005.