Sanchez et al.; Patterns of courtship acoustics and spawning sites of Mycteroperca bonaci 
187 
Florida 
Florida Bay 
Florida Strait 
Caribbean 
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70'0W 
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Gulf of 
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20°0N 
Puerto 
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Figure 1 
Map of the 3 study sites sampled in this study of acoustic courtship of black grouper (Mycteroperca 
bonaci) in Puerto Rico and off southern Florida during 2012-2014. Top right excerpt shows the location 
of Riley’s Hump within the Tortugas South Ecological Reserve off southern Florida. Bottom left excerpt 
shows locations of the Bajo de Sico seasonal no-take reserve and Mona Island off Puerto Rico. Contour 
lines indicate 200- and 2000-fathom bathymetry. 
year throughout their range in water temperatures 
of 25-28°C from the east coast of Brazil, through the 
Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, to Bermuda (Brule et 
ah, 2003; Teixeira et al., 2004; Paz and Sedberry, 2008; 
Luckhurst, 2010). At aggregations, increases in the 
number of black grouper correlate with the period be¬ 
tween the full moon and new moon and during dusk 
hours, when the only direct observations of gamete re¬ 
lease have been made (Sala et ah, 2001; Paz and Sed¬ 
berry, 2008). Although general temporal patterns are 
known, the specifics of spawning timing are not, and 
it is believed that site-specific temporal patterns of 
spawning are likely to respond to local environmental 
variations. Passive acoustic monitoring of FSAs of red 
hind (Epinephelus guttatus) off western Puerto Rico, 
for example, has shown that peak courtship sound pro¬ 
duction occurs at different times (Mann et al., 2010; 
Appeldoorn et al., in press) even between sites located 
within 12 km of each other on the same shelf. This ob¬ 
servation indicates that the dynamics of FSAs are vari¬ 
able locally—a finding that has implications for best 
management practices and local conservation measures 
(e.g., closed seasons). 
Courtship sounds are common throughout the epi- 
nephelids (Mann et al., 2009, 2010; Nelson et al., 
2011, Scharer et al., 2012a, 2012b), and male black 
grouper are no exception, producing a species-specif¬ 
ic courtship sound associated with spawning behav¬ 
ior (Scharer et al., 2014; Locascio and Burton, 2016). 
With passive acoustic monitoring, therefore, it is pos¬ 
sible to conduct a more detailed analysis of the court¬ 
ship patterns of black grouper than current methods 
allow (Rowell et al., 2011, 2015). Traditionally, FSAs 
are monitored by using diver surveys and analysis 
of gonadal-somatic indices (GSIs). However, passive 
acoustic monitoring has 3 advantages: 1) field work is 
not subject to marine conditions or physiological limi¬ 
tations; 2) data collection is long term and occurs on 
a set recording schedule; and 3) multiple sites can be 
monitored simultaneously (Gannon, 2008; Luczkovich 
et al., 2008). 
Reproductive behavior needs to be understood thor¬ 
oughly to develop and implement effective management 
policy. The objectives for this study were 1) to use high- 
resolution acoustic time series to study the interannual 
variability of temporal patterns at a spawning aggrega¬ 
tion of black grouper and intra-annual variability be¬ 
tween 2 geographically separate FSAs, 2) to conduct an 
initial assessment of an undocumented spawning ag¬ 
gregation of black grouper, and 3) to characterize the 
morphometric parameters of the 3 sites where black 
grouper aggregate and test whether their geophysical 
features are consistent with predictions derived from 
previously described sites. 
