Fisherman Catches 50-Year-Old Grouper Off Florida Coast

A huge 350-pound fish estimated at 50 years of age was caught off the Florida coast toward the end of 2019.

The FWC Fish and wildlife research institute illustrated the Warsaw Grouper was caught by a fisherman using a hook and line method in southwest Florida.

The research institute posted the fish to their Facebook page, where they revealed this fish is the oldest specimen of its kind that they had ever studied. According to the post, the samples attained from catches like that are considered very rare.

The fish was caught by a group of people, including Jason Boyll.

Biologists from the FWRI Age and Growth Lab estimated the fish’s age at 50 years, making the find the oldest sample they had collected for the aging program.

Boyll celebrated the catch on social media as well, stating it was a great way to end 2019.

The research institute illustrated how important it was to study the fish’s otolith or ear stone. They used it to determine the age of the fish though there is another method of conducting the analysis.

The bomb radiocarbon dating utilizes the residue from the nuclear tests done by several countries during the cold war. It is used as a timestamp for the otolith of the fish.

Researchers then compared the bomb carbon found within the otolith to the amount found in the atmosphere as a determinant of the fish’s age.

According to the FWC Website, otoliths are hard structures found behind the brain of bony fishes, and they could be used in the detection of sound and gravitational forces. They are also referred to as ear stones.

Their long elongated dorsal spine apparently characterizes warsaw groupers, and they are the only ones that have ten dorsal groupers while all of the others have 11.

The post also mentioned that the adults are found in depths of 190 to 1700 feet while the juveniles can be seen around the shallow water reefs in the northern Gulf.

Though the FWC Fish and wildlife research institute appears to be astonished by the find, they caution against fisher-men targeting the Warsaw Groupers.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration claimed the Groupers were identified as a species of concern.

They are considered critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The NOAA claimed fishing should primarily be by hook and line, as was the case with this find.

It is not the biggest catch ever found, though. A 436 pound Warsaw Grouper caught in late 1985 off the Gulf of Mexico was the second-largest find, while the largest was a 680-pound Goliath Grouper in 1961.