Malabar grouper (Epinephelus malabaricus)

   Body is light gray or light brown with a few randomly scattered dark brown spots, the number of which increases with age. The body also has a variable number of brown diagonal stripes. Young fish have a few wide, broken vertical stripes of a darker shade across the body, but as they mature they seem to become uniformly dark in color. Young fish have numerous brown spots. The caudal fin is rounded.