Gag (Mycteroperca microlepis) is a saltwater, brackish species recorded in the United States. It is mainly found over reef, at depths of 30–160 m.
Scientific name: Mycteroperca microlepis · Water: Saltwater, Brackish
Size: up to 145 cm
The gag is an epinephelid whose juveniles occur in estuaries and seagrass beds while adults are usually found offshore on rocky bottom, rarely to 152 m, and occasionally inshore on rocky or grassy bottom. It is the most common grouper on rocky ledges in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Adults are either solitary or in groups of five to 50 individuals and feed mainly on fishes, some crabs, shrimps and cephalopods, while juveniles less than 20 cm feed mainly on crustaceans that live in shallow grass beds. Its range is the western Atlantic, from North Carolina, with juveniles as far north as Massachusetts, to the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico; it is rare in Bermuda, has one record in Cuba, and is also reported from eastern Brazil. Maximum length is about 145 cm total length, commonly about 50 cm, and it can live 31 years, maturing at about 63 cm. It is a highly commercial species and a gamefish, with a very high price category. Fishing vulnerability is high at 62 of 100 and resilience medium, and climate vulnerability is high to very high at 73 of 100. IUCN lists it as vulnerable.
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