Today on Jonathan Bird's Blue World, Jonathan goes on a search
for the world's largest grouper!
Hi, I'm Jonathan Bird and welcome to my world!
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Goliath Groupers! They're among the largest reef fish in the world. They used to be common
throughout the Caribbean, but then their numbers started to plummet in the 1980s.
That's because everybody wants to catch an 800-pound fish, so pretty soon the Goliath
Grouper had been fished almost to extinction. In 1990, the U.S. Government had to take drastic
measures to protect this fish, so they passed a law that banned all fishing of Goliath Groupers.
Now, nineteen years later, they're making a remarkable comeback.
The Goliath Grouper is still very rare. In fact, most divers have never even seen one.
David Doubilet, the world-famous National Geographic Magazine photographer, has invited
me to join him and his wife Jen Hayes (who is also his photo assistant) on a Goliath
Grouper filming expedition.
How could I turn down an invitation like that? So I head down to beautiful West Palm Beach
in September on a mission to see one of these magnificent fish in person.
We board the Shearwater, a large dive boat that will be our base of operations for a week.
I'm really excited as we pull away from the dock. Captain Jim Abernethy is taking us to
a shipwreck where the groupers are known to hide. It's not far from the sprawling coastline
of West Palm Beach.
Since it's only a ten minute ride to the first shipwreck where we will be looking for Goliath
Groupers, I get right to work putting my gear together.
This is great. We're going to find some Goliath Groupers. Maybe they'll be bigger than me
- which isn't really that hard, actually.
We've arrived at the wreck of the Mizpah, which sits on the sea floor 80 feet below.
The question is: are there any Goliath Groupers down there?
Let's go find out!
After I get in, David and Jen follow with their still cameras.
My cameraman Pierre and I start descending to the wreck.
Once we hit the bottom, Pierre and I will stay out of David and Jen's way.
We are greeted by a very strong current. I can barely hold my place in the sand.
We struggle to make our way to the wreck where the Goliath Groupers like to hang out.
Shipwrecks are magnets for fish. That's because they provide a great place for fish to hide
and rest on what might otherwise be a very flat, featureless sea floor.
The shipwrecks off the east coast of Florida have become some of the best places to find
Goliath Groupers. But a typical shipwreck only has one or two of them hanging around.
Things are different here in September. That's when the Goliath Groupers get together in
large numbers to spawn.
We are thrilled to find some big Goliath Groupers. David is getting up close and personal with
some big fish! And it looks like he's getting some good pictures too!
The groupers don't like the current much either, so they hide behind the wreck the
same way one might hide behind a large object to get out of the wind.
An even better place to hide is inside the wreck. I make my way over to a doorway to
have a peek into the dark interior.
I'm can see a couple Goliath Groupers in there. I swim inside to see if I can get some closer
shots. They tolerate my presence until I get a little too close, then they swim away, spooked
by a diver in such close quarters with them.
But outside, they let me get really close. These Groupers are surrounded by little silvery
fish called cigar minnows.
The minnows might look like they are hiding out of the current, but they are really aggregating
close to the groupers. What could they be up to?
The Goliath Groupers look like they are just hanging out, but they are waiting for something,
just like the cigar minnows.
Later, when the current relaxes, dozens of groupers are gathering together in the water
column above the wreck. What's going on? It's the mating season, and these fish are
preparing to spawn—probably at dusk or after sunset.
Unfortunately, I'm low on air and I need to head back to the surface. Pierre and I
do a safety stop on the anchor line as we eagerly anticipate the next dive.
That is incredible! Those fish are so huge - they're like the size of refrigerators!
Unbelievable!
As the massive fish gather into groups for their evening spawning, I'm up above getting
ready. I hope I don't miss anything!
These fish only spawn once a year, in September, during the full moon, at dusk. And they only
do it for maybe one or two nights. We know they spawned last night so this might be my
last chance to film this.
So, as the sun gets low in the sky, Pierre and I jump back in the water.
We head back down to the wreck.
The Goliath Groupers are all around the wreck in abundance.
These groupers are so large that they don't need to worry about too many predators. With
almost no current now, they head away from the protection of the wreck into open water.
Clouds of cigar minnows stick to the groupers like glue, eagerly anticipating millions of
delicious eggs that the groupers will release when they spawn.
The medium sized fish called jacks make runs at the cigar minnows to see
if they can catch a meal.
David is caught up in the action, photographing the cigar minnows surrounding the groupers.
I keep looking for any kind of mating activity, but something totally unexpected catches my eye.
It's a manta ray swimming among the groupers!
I move in for a shot of the ray. It doesn't seem afraid of me.
And I have to believe it's no coincidence that a manta has shown up here. Mantas are
filter feeders and this one is probably hoping to join the cigar minnows and feed on some
grouper eggs.
The manta seems intrigued by our video lights and she keeps coming over to me. So I put
my camera down and give her a little belly rub.
And then the manta swings around and says Hi to Pierre! What a thrill for both of us!
Any dive with a manta ray and fish the size of refrigerators is definitely a good day
at the office!
Mantas are awesome but I need to keep my attention and my camera focused on the big groupers
so I don't miss anything.
The cigar minnows are crowding in even tighter to the Groupers. You can hardly even tell
there's a big fish in the middle of all that!
It's an amazing spectacle to observe. These enormous fish would make Michael Jordan feel
small. And the cigar minnows are just magical to watch.
We see a lot of what looks like courting, but no spawning. Maybe the groupers are more
bothered by our presence than they let on. Or maybe they are waiting until dark.
But as it gets later and later, we are running out of light, and air. Reluctantly, Pierre
and I must head back to the surface.
It looks like the spawning will happen later in the evening and I'll miss it.
Back aboard the boat, David and Jen are looking at their shots.
JEN: See that? That is really nice!
Even though we didn't see the actual spawning, the dive was still well worth the effort.
That was an incredible experience. Those fish are just majestic, covered with all those
beautiful fish. We didn't actually see the spawning event - not sure if maybe they're
doing it now - but we finally had to come up. We ran out of time and it was really dark,
but – unbelievable - that was something that I will never forget.
The Goliath Grouper is a spectacular example of successful marine conservation. This vulnerable
fish was pushed to the very brink of extinction, but was saved at the last minute by laws to
protect them. In less than 20 years, they have made a strong comeback. And although
their population has not yet fully recovered, they are well on the way.
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