Groupers are vulnerable to overfishing for several reasons. In 1989, a 554-pound giant was caught off Kihei, Maui, but this was a highly unusual catch. Hawaii's other native species, the giant grouper, is now exceedingly rare. Hawaii's anglers fish for hapu'u by dangling baited lines over the side of the boat in about 300 to 700 feet of water. Its scientific name is Epinephelus quernus.Īdults grow from 2 to 3 feet long and usually swim in deep water. One is the kind mentioned in the above letter, the hapu'u (hapu'upu'u means the young or juvenile of the species), also called the Hawaiian grouper. The grouper family is large, but not many types made it to Hawaii: Only two species are native here. Large groupers have been found with lobsters, stingrays, puffer fish and even sea turtles in their stomachs. When a likely meal gets close, the grouper opens its expandable mouth and inhales, sucking in both water and prey.Īs you might suspect, this action takes place with lightning-strike efficiency. Groupers are bottom fish, lying in wait near the ocean floor to ambush passing fish or invertebrates. Sea bass is the food or menu name for a family of marine fish called groupers. "In Hong Kong they also call it corupa or dragon fish."Īt a local Chinese restaurant, I mentioned loong dun. "Sea bass," he said immediately when I read the name. I called a Hawaii friend who grew up in Hong Kong. Could this fish be the Hawaiian sea bass or grouper which the Hawaiians call hapu'upu'u?" "It is a delicious fish which we eat raw, sashimi style, or cooked with jook (Chinese rice porridge). Are grouped as groupers"WHEN my father was living, he always purchased from the Chinatown fish markets a white-flesh fish pronounced in Cantonese loong dun," writes a Honolulu reader.
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