Halfmoon grouper
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
The halfmoon grouper can change from female to male.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Halfmoon grouper
- Scientific name
- Epinephelus rivulatus
- Japanese name
- シモフリハタ
- Group
- Ocean animals
- Order
- Perciformes
- Family
- Serranidae
- Genus
- Epinephelus
It lives in the seas south of Wakayama, in the Ryukyu, Izu and Ogasawara Islands, and also in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Its body is covered with red and pale red markings that look like a frosted, marbled pattern (shimofuri), which gave it its name.
How the Halfmoon grouper lives
It lives on rocky reefs and coral reefs near the coast.
新潟市水族館 マリンピア日本海Basic data
- Range
- Pacific coast of southern Japan, Ryukyu Islands, Izu and Ogasawara Islands, and the Indo-Pacific
Where the Halfmoon grouper has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- シモフリハタ
- 简体中文
- 霜点石斑鱼
- 繁體中文
- 霜點石斑魚
- Español
- Mero Medialuna
- Français
- Cabot Sale
- Português (Brasil)
- Garoupa-meia-lunada
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 鳥羽水族館 — シモフリハタChecked: 2026-11-04
- 新潟市水族館 マリンピア日本海 — シモフリハタChecked: 2026-11-07
- Ningaloo Atlas — Anatomical changes to the gonad during protogynous sex change in the half-moon grouper Epinephelus rivulatus (Valenciennes)Checked: 2026-11-07
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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