This bluestriped grunt was in the waters off of Siesta Key in Florida
I took this photo of a bluestriped grunt during some of the hours of snorkeling that I did in Siesta Key, Florida this past year. This year the water had been more clear than I had ever seen it. That visibility led me to spend a lot of time face down in the water with my snorkel and mask. The fish population had really recovered from the red tide explosion of 2018 in the Gulf of Mexico that killed off many of the near shore fish.
The Point of Rocks is on the southernmost end of Crescent Beach in Siesta Key. If you want to snorkel and see fish, this is the place to go! There are hundreds of yards of rocky outcroppings that are the home of thousands of fish. On the bigger end of the food chain, there are snook and bar jack. On the smaller end are all sorts of juvenile fish: wrasses, squirrelfishes and more!
The scientific name of bluestriped grunt is Haemulon sciurus. They can grow to be almost 18 inches long, but most tap out at around 14 inches long. Bluestriped grunt are also called: boar grunt, golden grunt, humpback grunt, redmouth grunt, and yellow grunt. Grunts have teeth that sit deep within their throats. The grunting sound that they make comes from the grinding of these teeth. The air bladder in their body helps to resonate this sound.
Bluestriped grunts are found throughout the Caribbean, and are not considered to be endangered or threatened. These fish can be found in waters as deep as one hundred feet. One unique behavior of grunts in general is that they will push against one another with open mouths. It's thought that this behavior is for either courtship or territory defense. You can tell that this is a juvenile bluestriped grunt because its stripes do not extend all the way across its body.
Bluestriped grunts live in waters as deep as 100'
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