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Monitoring Groupers and Brown meagres

Natural Heritage

The corb and the brown grouper are two heritage species, emblematic of the Mediterranean. They are known for their calm, even curious behavior towards underwater divers.

Did you know? The grouper is a hermaphroditic species that starts its life as a female, reaches sexual maturity around five years old, and then changes sex when it reaches a size of 60-70 cm (between ten and fourteen years). It takes several years, even decades, for the population to renew itself.

Human activities, particularly spearfishing, have led to a significant decline in these two species. To address this issue, their capture has been banned in Monaco since 1993. To monitor the evolution of these two species, biannual surveys have been conducted since 2018 in the Marine Protected Areas of the Principality by the consultancy Thalassa Marine Research & Environmental Awareness.

The latest results from the June 2024 campaign are promising, showing a slow but steady increase in the populations of these two top-level trophic species!

This program is supported by the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation.

Discover the page on the website dedicated for this monitoring: ???? Click here

Photo credit: Stéphane Jamme - Aquanaute expertise