Morphological and biological characteristics of sevenband grouper Epinephelus septemfasciatus

We cultured 114 sevenband groupers (Epinephelus septemfasciatus) in net cages in the open waters of Raoping County in Guangdong Province to investigate the morphological and biological characteristics, especially the external morphological characteristics, qualitativetraits and internal structure. The results show that E.septemfasciatus is elliptical and compressiform with 7 brown cross bands. The first band merges with upper edge of preopercle and the sixth band divides into 2 bands. Some irregular white stripes are in the body side band. The edges of all fins are white. Brown and white stripes are alternate in the dorsal fin spine. Three pale interspaces are below the dorsal fin ray. The stomach is 卜-shaped and pyloric caeca is strong. The intestine length is0.7 time to 1.4 times of body length, which matches the characteristics of predacious fish.