- REBREATHERS - SPORT DIVERS ... - Stingray Divers

What Are You
Doing This
Summer?
You Could Be
Doing This!
Dive with us and experience the adventure.
Three boats, two locations, Hotel Accommodations,
Resturants and Tiki Bar on site. Non-divers can enjoy
our glassbottom or try the “Dive Today Program”.
South Florida Diving Headqaurters
954.783.2299 / www.southfloridadiving.com
101 N. Riverside Drive # 106, Pompano Beach, FL 33062
Lazy, or just Resourceful?
Like most reef predators, goliaths
are highly opportunistic feeders.
If something edible is slow and/
or dumb enough to be where a
goliath can get it, even something
on the end of a line, it’s going
to be lunch. But this does not
mean the goliath grouper are
indiscriminate eating machines.
According to Dr. Koenig, and
contrary to what some believe,
grouper and snapper are not
a normal part of the goliath’s
diet. Working closely with NMFS,
FSU’s team of researchers have
examined the stomach contents
from many captured adult and
juvenile fish, only to find that
“not even once have we found a
grouper or snapper inside.”
What they have found by
examining the stomach contents
is that the animal’s preferred prey
- in addition to a wide assortment
of crustaceans and mollusks -
is fish with spiny defenses, like
catfish, burrfish, porcupine fish
and stingrays.
One reason for this preference
has to do with the physical
ways in which goliaths differ
from other species of grouper.
Compared to its body mass and
the size of its’ mouth, the teeth
on a goliath are somewhat
dainty. They lack the crushing
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007