A few of the large Nassau Groupers around Little Cayman are renowned for being friendly - they'll come right up to you and let you pet them. They also like you to help them hunt Squirrelfish.
This is at the dive site "Meadows", from the dive boat Cayman Aggressor IV, 5/24/2010.
This was the second time that I encountered a Grouper that wanted to be pet. The first time was in the Turks and Caicos Islands in 1999. I truly thought this was a one-time thing but seems to be more interesting than I first thought. And, why only "Nassau Grouper" and not other kinds of Grouper. And, why Grouper? Clearly, I'm a potential threat (in terms of size, etc.) and yet they come right up to us. Completely amazing. However, very sad that they are endangered due to SEVERE overfishing.
KimberlyLTripp 1 year ago