Wilbur

This is a photo of Wilbur the goliath grouper. Wilbur is a friendly ~200 pound juvenile goliath grouper that lives around the M/V Castor shipwreck off Boynton Beach, Florida. In terms of size, Wilbur is a small goliath grouper. In his life Wilbur could grow to 800+ pounds. Wilbur follows divers around like a puppy dog, and is a favorite of the local dive community.

Fortunately, this species has been protected since 1990. Unfortunately, this hasn’t stopped poachers from harvesting them. These fish can be especially vulnerable because they aggregate to breed in the same areas every year. Their large size and predictable behavior led to them being overfished at these aggregatory areas. For now, we are hopeful that the goliath grouper will continue to rebound.