page_title: Honeycomb grouper
section_title: Hermaphroditism
hierarchical_section_title: Honeycomb grouper / Hermaphroditism
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Un mérou gâteau de cire (Epinephelus merra) à la Réunion.
context_page_description: The honeycomb grouper, also known as black-spotted rock-cod, common birdwire rockcod, dwarf spotted rockcod, dwarf-spotted grouper, honeycomb cod, wire-netted reefcod or wire-netting cod, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a grouper from the subfamily Epinephelinae which is part of the family Serranidae, which also includes the anthias and sea basses. It has a wide Indo-Pacific distribution where it is found in coastal and offshore reefs in shallow waters.
context_section_description: The genus Epinephelus has the ability to change sexes, more specifically they are protogynous hermaphrodites what means females can turn into males at one point in their life. This sex change usually happens in the non breeding season and can be caused by social stimuli, age, growth, and body size. Yet, the initial trigger for the sex change remains unknown.
  Females turn into males when they reach a length of approximately 20 cm, thus the size advantage model for sequential hermaphroditism applies in the case of the honeycomb grouper. The size advantage model states that if an individual can reproduce more effectively as one sex when small or young and as the other sex when larger or older, it should change sex at some point in its life history.
caption: Epinephelus merra from Reunion Island
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