The Goliath Grouper, or the more scientific species Epinephelus quinquefasciatus, is a known species that's been confirmed in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. This fish can grow to lengths of over 6 feet and can weigh as much as a half a ton.

Genetic tests found this Goliath grouper isn't the same species of Goliath Grouper that resides in the Atlantic ocean, scientifically known as the Epinephelus itajara. Although the Atlantic Goliath grouper and its cousin from the Pacific, the Epinephelus quinquefasciatus share a lot of common attributes, they have distinctly different genetic codes.

Matthew Craig, lead researcher at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology said,"For more than a century, ichthyologists have thought that Pacific and Atlantic goliath grouper were the same species and the argument was settled before the widespread use of genetic techniques."

Video Of Goliath Grouper recorded by a scuba diver.

The Atlantic Goliath grouper is on the critically endangered list. The fish thrives in shallow tropical waters in coral and man made reefs. In the Atlantic, the giant Grouper has been spotted in the Florida Keys, the Bahamas and all over the Brazilian coast, where the huge fish is known as the mero. They eat crustaceans, smaller fish and octopuses.

Like their Atlantic counterpart, The Epinephelus quinquefasciatus will likely end up on the endangered species list.

The research that found these two similar fish to be different species was funded by the sciencefoundation.com">National Science Foundation, The Summit Foundation, the Programa Petrobras Ambiental, Conservation International Brazil to Projeto Meros do Brasil and the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology.

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