Camouflage grouper
Epinephelus polyphekadion
Illustration: Bloom by Day
A short-snouted brown grouper speckled with small dark spots, with larger dark blotches running in oblique bands over a whitish back. It wedges into coral heads and is regularly mistaken for a small flowery cod.
how to recognise it
- small dark brown spots over a pale brown body
- large dark blotches on a whitish upper body, forming oblique bands
- a dark saddle-like mark on the upper tail base
- a stocky, short-snouted cod to about 90 cm
don’t confuse with
- Flowery rockcod — the flowery rockcod is bigger, its brown spots are smaller and more crowded, and its blotches sit in five vertical series rather than oblique bands — the two are regularly confused
Field marks read from Fishes of Australia, 2026-10-15. Our wording, their facts. Max size 90 cm SL.
facts
- habitat
- reef
- size
- ~50 cm, to 90 cm
Max size from Fishes of Australia (90 cm SL); the typical size is Bluebird’s, not from a cited source
- records
- 60 at 15 spot(s), none of
them in this region
Recorded at Osprey Reef (Coral Sea), Lizard Island — Cod Wall, Cod Hole (Ribbon Reefs GBR), Bougainville Reef (Coral Sea), Holmes Reef (Coral Sea), Green Island (Cairns), Fitzroy Island (Cairns), Magnetic Island — Geoffrey Bay, SS Yongala Wreck, Hardy Reef (Whitsundays), Bait Reef (Whitsundays), North Horn (Coral Sea), Cairns Reef (Great Barrier), Heron Island (GBR), Lady Elliot Island (GBR). A count of occurrence records, not abundance. Records are where someone looked.
when it has been recorded
JFMAMJJASOND
A gap means no record in the sample, not absence.
the rule
QLD — Min: 50cm Max: 70cm · Combined limit: 5 in total of all cod and grouper species
source
· verified 2026-10-10
no NSW rule listed — check before you dive
no closed season recorded for this species — that is not the same as open; check the official page
Rules checked 2026-10-13 against qld.gov.au
Rules change. Check before you dive.
Occurrence data: Atlas of Living Australia (ala.org.au), CC-BY 4.0.
Diver transect counts: Reef Life Survey (reeflifesurvey.com), CC-BY 4.0, supplied via ALA.
Target and protected species: Queensland tidal-water size and possession limits (qld.gov.au) and NSW saltwater bag and size limits plus threatened species lists (dpird.nsw.gov.au).
Habitat and size: Bluebird, approximate, from general knowledge. Not cited. FishBase is CC BY-NC and this app is commercial, so it is not used.
Description written for Bloom. RECORDS ARE WHERE SOMEONE LOOKED, NOT WHERE THE FISH ARE. A record count is a count of records near here and nothing else -- it is not abundance, and a species with few records is not rare. Absence of records is not absence of fish.
Diver transect counts: Reef Life Survey (reeflifesurvey.com), CC-BY 4.0, supplied via ALA.
Target and protected species: Queensland tidal-water size and possession limits (qld.gov.au) and NSW saltwater bag and size limits plus threatened species lists (dpird.nsw.gov.au).
Habitat and size: Bluebird, approximate, from general knowledge. Not cited. FishBase is CC BY-NC and this app is commercial, so it is not used.
Description written for Bloom. RECORDS ARE WHERE SOMEONE LOOKED, NOT WHERE THE FISH ARE. A record count is a count of records near here and nothing else -- it is not abundance, and a species with few records is not rare. Absence of records is not absence of fish.