Abstract

The black grouper, Mycteroperca bonaci, is an important component of Atlantic fisheries. Their reproductive be-havior involves spawning aggregations that concentrates their populations making them vulnerable yet easy to assess during this time. Passive acoustic and synchronous video recordings were made at two spawning aggregation sites to study the sounds associated to reproductive behaviors of M. bonaci. A characteristic sound produced during courtship displays involves behaviors commonly observed for groupers of this genus at spawning aggregations. Courtship-associated sounds quantified over the spawning season at Mona Island, Puerto Rico revealed seasonality and periodici-ty. Most of the daily sound production occurred during a period of two hours prior to sunset. The highest rates of sound production lasted for a period of ten days with a peak 10 d after full moon with lunar periodicity over three consecu-tive months (January to March). The maxima in courtship-associated sounds were within the reported season of reproduc-tion in the Caribbean (December to March), but prior to seasonal management regulations in the US Caribbean EEZ wa-ters (February to April). Passive acoustics provide an additional manner to measure the temporal variability of reproduc-tive activity and to evaluate current management strategies (seasonal bans or marine reserves), which are critical for the recovery of threatened groupers.

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