Abundance of the groupers fish (Teleostei: Serranidae) along Gulf of Aqaba

The groupers abundance was studied in sixteen stations representing four sites along the Gulf of Aqaba. Sixteen species belonging to five genera of groupers were recorded across the four sites. The mean abundance of all groupers species in Ras Mohamed NP and Sharm El Sheikh City were found to be higher than that of Nabq and Abu Galum MRPA. The highest abundance of groupers were recorded in Ras Nasrani (76 SE±2.08) and Ras Um Sid (71 SE±2.0). There was no significant difference of groupers abundance between depths of 5 m and 15m in all of the studied sites. Based on their ecological behavior, groupers were divided into separate groups, and abundance was investigated for each group. Abundance of the cryptic and roving groupers was higher than that of the large mobile groupers, in all of the studied sites. While cryptic and roving grouper included both abundance and rare species, large mobile groupers species were all rare. The pattern of occurrence for the three different groups was repeated in all sites, except for Abu Galum MRPA where no large mobile grouper was recorded, probably due to over fishing. Diversity of groupers in all of the studied sites increased with the increase of abundance.