1. By Austin Tang

2. Habitat ● The Atlantic Goliath Grouper is located near central America in the Atlantic Ocean. ● It prefers shallow, inshore, and muddy waters with rock or coral bottoms.

3. Niche and Diet ● The Epinephelus Itajara is a 3 rd level consumer. ● It eats stingrays, octopi, young sea turtles, and crustaceans. ● The Atlantic goliath grouper can be attacked by moray eels and barracudas as a juvenile. - As an adult, it is only eaten by large sharks and humans.

4. Biotic and Abiotic Factors ● Biotic Factors: sharks, stingrays, eels, and barracudas. ● Abiotic Factors: sunlight, water, oxygen, and temperature.

5. Limiting Factors, Population, and Threats ● The Atlantic goliath grouper is now a completely protected species. ● The population is roughly 670 individuals in the Atlantic Ocean. ● It’s limiting factor is weather. ● It’s threats are humans and sharks.

6. Reproduction and Gestation ● The Atlantic Goliath Grouper’s breeding season is from July to September. ● The Groupers lay eggs and scatter them in water columns.

7. Adaptations ● The Atlantic Goliath Grouper has teeth, but still swallows its prey whole. ● The Atlantic Goliath grouper is one of the few groupers who do not change gender in their lifetime. ● They have fins to help steer them through water.

8. Butterfly Species The Goliath grouper is a butterfly species because without it, eel and crustacean species would overgrow and sharks would have less to eat, and the amount of many species would be disrupted and many more species would become endangered.

9. Works Cited "Atlantic Goliath Grouper." ARKive. Wildscreen, n.d. Web. 7 Nov 2013.. Robins, Robert H.. "Goliath Grouper." FLMNH Ichthyology Department. Florida Museum of Natural History, n.d. Web. 7 Nov 2013.. Sampang, Arlene G., and Susan M. Luna. "Epinephelus itajara, Atlantic goliath grouper." Fishbase. FishBase, n.d. Web. 7 Nov 2013. http://www.fishbase.org/summary/Epinephelus-itajara.html>. http://www.fishbase.org/summary/Epinephelus-itajara.html Collins, Angela B. "Behavior, Habitat, and Abundance of the Goliath Grouper, Epinephelus itajara, in the Central Eastern Gulf of Mexico." Diss. Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, 2010. Print.. Pictures from: http://www.bioweb.uwlax.edu, http://www.divegallery.com, http://www.arkive.org, and http://www.wikipedia.org,http://www.bioweb.uwlax.eduhttp://www.divegallery.com http://www.arkive.orghttp://www.wikipedia.org

10. This presentation contains copyrighted material used under the educational fair use exemption to U.S. Copyright law.