186 
National Marine 
Fisheries Service Fishery Bulletin 
NOAA ^ established in 1881 
Spencer F. Baird 
First U.S. Commissioner 
of Fisheries and founder 
of Fishery Bulletin 
Patterns of courtship acoustics and geophysical 
features at spawning sites of black grouper 
IMycteroperca bonaci) 
Email address for contact author: phiilip.sanchez@upr.edu 
Abstract —Geomorphological assess¬ 
ments were conducted and passive 
acoustic recordings were collected 
from 2012 through 2014 at 3 recent¬ 
ly identified spawning aggregations 
of the black grouper (Mycteroperca 
bonaci) in Puerto Rico and southern 
Florida. A time series of courtship- 
associated sounds (CASs) by black 
grouper were analyzed in relation 
to lunar and diel periodicities, wa¬ 
ter temperature, and tidal stage. 
Analysis of CAS recordings indicat¬ 
ed similar temporal patterns at the 
3 spawning aggregations. Spawn¬ 
ing season was correlated with de¬ 
creased water temperature. Within 
the spawning season, CAS produc¬ 
tion was influenced significantly 
by lunar and diel periodicities and 
sound production peaked between 
the last quarter and new moons dur¬ 
ing evening hours. The data from 
this study also indicate a potential 
correlation with tidal stage. Tempo¬ 
ral patterns were similar during 3 
consecutive years at Mona Island in 
Puerto Rico and for the geographi¬ 
cally isolated sites of Mona Island 
and Riley’s Hump off Florida. At 
Bajo de Sico in Puerto Rico, court¬ 
ship activity was lower than that 
at the other sites but reflected the 
same general patterns in 2014. For 
all 3 sites, spawning aggregations 
were found less than 150 m from a 
promontory at depths between 25 
and 35 m near deep water (>100 m). 
Manuscript submitted 22 April 2016. 
Manuscript accepted 17 January 2017. 
Fish. Bull. 115:186-195 (2017). 
Online publication date: 7 February 2017. 
doi: 10.7755/FB.115.2.5 
The views and opinions expressed or 
implied in this article are those of the 
author (or authors) and do not necessarily 
reflect the position of the National 
Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA. 
Phillip J. Sanchez (contact author)’ 
Richard S. Appeldoorn’ 
Michelle T. Scharer-Umpierre’ 
James V, Locascio^ 
’ Department of Marine Sciences 
University of Puerto Rico-MayagOez 
Carretera 304 End of Road 
Isla Magueyes 
La Parguera, Lajas, Puerto Rico 00667 
2 Mote Marine Laboratory 
1600 Ken Thompson Parkway 
Sarasota, Florida 34236 
Most large, western Atlantic grou¬ 
pers (family Epinephelidae) form 
site-specific transient fish spawning 
aggregations (FSAs) at predictable 
times throughout the year (Domeier 
and Colin, 1997). Large proportions of 
the annual catch of species that form 
transient FSAs occur when these fish 
are aggregated (Claydon, 2004). Con¬ 
sequently, groupers are vulnerable to 
intense fishery pressure (Eklund et 
al., 2000; Brule et al., 2003). Combined 
with the protogynous hermaphrodit¬ 
ism, slow growth, and late maturation 
common to large groupers, many spe¬ 
cies of grouper are experiencing pop¬ 
ulation declines due to the rero.oval 
of spawning stocks at aggregations 
(Matos-Caraballo, 1997). 
The black grouper {Mycteroperca 
bonaci) is the second largest grouper 
in the western Atlantic and is classi¬ 
fied as near threatened in the lUCN 
Red List of Threatened Species be¬ 
cause of declining populations (Fer¬ 
reira et ah, 2008). Although black 
grouper can spawn year-round (Crab¬ 
tree and Bullock, 1998), the majority 
of their annual reproductive effort 
is spent seasonally during transient 
spawning aggregations (Garcia- 
Cagide and Garcia, 1996; Crabtree 
and Bullock, 1998). Only 3 spawning 
aggregations of black grouper have 
been described within U.S. territorial 
waters (Eklund et al., 2000; Scharer 
et al., 2014; Locascio and Burton, 
2016). However, black grouper are 
believed to form many small spawn¬ 
ing aggregations throughout their 
range (Paz and Sedberry, 2008). 
Identification, characterization, 
and assessment of FSAs are critical 
for effective management of popula¬ 
tions (Claydon, 2004). Geomorpho¬ 
logical assessments of 5 multispecies 
FSA sites used by large groupers 
(with 1 site documented for black 
grouper) revealed consistent benthic 
morphometric parameters across 
sites (Kobara and Heyman, 2008). 
Furthermore, follow-up analyses of 
bathymetry maps at 12 known FSA 
sites in Belize (10 supporting black 
grouper) led to the documentation of 
2 additional multispecies aggrega¬ 
tions, both of which included black 
grouper (Kobara and Heyman, 2010). 
Black grouper form spawning ag¬ 
gregations at different times of the 
