---
title: Peacock Grouper (Cephalopholis argus)
scientific_name: Cephalopholis argus
common_name: Peacock Grouper
taxon: Groupers
conservation_status: LC - Least Concern
published: 2023-12-26T22:42:48.288Z
updated: 2026-08-13T12:30:55.010Z
tags: Peacock Grouper, Cephalopholis argus, Groupers, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/groupers/peacock-grouper
---

# Peacock Grouper (*Cephalopholis argus*)

## Quick facts

- **Group:** Groupers (*Epinephelidae*)
- **Size:** up to 60 cm
- **Depth:** 1-40 m
- **Diet:** Carnivore
- **Activity:** Diurnal
- **Rarity:** Common
- **Habitat:** Coral-rich reef, perched in the open on coral heads
- **Reproduction:** Broadcast spawner, Protogynous hermaphrodite
- **Hazard:** Poisonous
- **Conservation status:** LC - Least Concern

## How to recognise it

- dark brown-blue body covered in small blue spots ringed black
- five or six pale bars across the rear half, appearing and fading
- pale rear edges to the tail and the soft dorsal fin
- length up to 60 cm

A dark grouper covered in small blue spots ringed in black, with pale bars across the back half that come and go with mood. Up to 60 cm (24 in), perched on a coral head in plain view - one of the most conspicuous groupers on a healthy reef here.

A male holds a territory containing several females and patrols it constantly, and the harem is stable enough that researchers can map the boundaries. Everything begins as female, and the largest fish becomes the male.

It is also the standard warning about moving fish around. Hawaii introduced this species in the 1950s to build a fishery; it spread across the whole archipelago, the fishery never happened because the flesh carries ciguatera and nobody would buy it, and the fish now accounts for a large share of the predator biomass on Hawaiian reefs while eating the native fish the state was trying to protect. Bounty programs to remove it have run for years.

Here it belongs, and it hunts small fish and crustaceans from a perch in short ambush rushes, mostly at the ends of the day.

## Also known as

- **English:** peacock grouper, Blue spotted grouper, peacock hind
- **Arabic:** عجوز المُتحشِّم, Dhaou, Hamoor
- **Hebrew:** דקרן פניני
- **French:** Vieille la prude, Vielle La Pruda, Loche Céleste
- **Italian:** Cernia puntinata di blu, Cernia pavone
- **German:** Pfauen-Zackenbarsch
- **Spanish:** Cherna Pavo Real, Mero pavo real
- **Portuguese:** Garoupa pavão
- **Dutch:** Pauwtandbaars
- **Swedish:** Påfågelgrouper
- **Polish:** Graniec zmienny
- **Czech:** kanic tmavý
- **Japanese:** アオノメハタ, Aonomehata
- **Chinese:** 斑点九棘鲈, 斑點九刺鮨, 斑點九棘鱸
- **Russian:** Павлинья гаррупа
- **AF:** Pou-klipkabeljou
- **DA:** Blåplettet påfuglebars
- **DIV:** Mas faana
- **ET:** Sinitäpp-küülikahven
- **FI:** Riikinkukkomeriahven
- **FIJ:** Ti' ilo, Donu, Kawakawaloa
- **HIN:** बलुफना
- **MAH:** Kalemeej
- **MAL:** നീല ച്ചമ്മം, Neelachammam, നേലചാമ്മാം
- **MLG:** Lovo Taratake, Alovo
- **MSA:** Kerapu bunga, Kerapu hitam, Kerapu merak
- **SMO:** Gatala-uli, Loi
- **SOM:** Maka, Mushenzi, Summan
- **SW:** Chewa
- **TAH:** roi
- **TH:** ปลากะรังลายนกยูง
- **TON:** Ngatala 'uli
- **VI:** Cá mú chấm lam, Cá Mú bịp

## Scientific synonyms

- *Bodianus guttatus* Bloch, 1790
- *Bodianus jacobevertsen* Lacepède, 1802
- *Bodianus jacob-evertsen* Lacepède, 1802
- *Cephalopholis guttata* (Bloch)
- *Cephalopolis argus* Schneider, 1801
- *Epinephelus argus* (Schneider, 1801)
- *Serranus guttatus* (Bloch, 1790)
- *Serranus immunerur* Montrouzier, 1857
- *Serranus myriaster* Valenciennes, 1828
- *Serranus thyrsites* Saville-Kent, 1893

## Range

Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Federal Republic of Somalia, Indian Ocean, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Red Sea, Republic of Mauritius, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania

---

*Source: [Red Sea Creatures](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/groupers/peacock-grouper)*
*Updated: August 13, 2026*