No scales, and small sharp teeth. Almost looks like some type of juvenile grouper, but I caught it in an ocean facing creek in just a few feet of water.
You’re right,it’s a grouper,maybe barbawang will tell us the exact species. I have caught them before this time of year.Good going there Bucky
It’s a baby gag grouper. The young grow inshore until around Nov before they migrate to offshore water.
Caught several in Cherry Grove Marsh over the years.
We have actually caught a few baby Grouper in Conch Creek over the years. My Grouper skills are weak so I had no idea what kind they were. I guess they come up into the marsh for safety?
Near shore and inshore are nursery grounds for gag grouper
This probably protects Juvie gags from invasive lionfish
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True, baby gags live inshore and can be caught on bait under docks and any structure really. I had a buddy that used to catch them as a kid, not knowing what they were, but remembers eating the “delicious camouflage fish” every summer. True Story. I’ve only ever caught them under docks near breach inlet close to the ocean.
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If i ever get a saltwater aquarium, i want to try to keep one alive. It would be awesome to watch them eat and grow in the house!
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23, my son had a saltwater aquarium, made the outlets and all metal in the room rust, just be aware of this before getting one.
I’m on the water. How much worse could it make it? My outdoor outlets don’t rust.
Wow, that’s interesting. I thought I was going crazy because I had no idea any grouper ever lived inshore. I caught a few of these in the same spot, all small, but surprisingly aggressive. Today I learned something, thanks.
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Little gag grouper are the only immature grouper specie I have ever seen inshore.,and I have never caught an immature gag offshore .
Definitely a juvenile gag grouper. You’ll see them mixed up at the Mt. P pier as well if you fish the end. Which by the way is snag heaven.
Late to the party as usual, I was waylaid by some free swimming bivalves with blue eyes in the Gulf… those things are fun.
Only thing I can add from a biological/habitat use perspective:
Like sheepshead, flounder, etc, they spawn offshore in winter and the little ones make their way into the estuaries till the fall when they go offshore again. We get occasional pulses of inshore recruitment by different reef species sometimes, maybe 8 years back we had a big pulse of mangrove snapper and everybody was catching them into the fall. Have heard tons of reports of gag in the last 2 weeks, so it looks like a good year for them!
LOL @23sailfish 
delicious camouflage fish
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In late Dec Jan you can catch loads of 10 - 13” gags in the shipping channel between the jetties ( not exactly a safe place to fish) the Young gags don’t go all the way out until they have some size. I do recall the year we had mangroves inshore. Must have been when things shifted from global cooling to warming
Had dinner at Shem last week and went for a walk on the pier after. A guy at the end of the pier caught a baby gag. He didn’t know what it was and asked if they were good eating, I said “Yeh, but that one’s about 18 inches short and not legal to keep”. I didn’t keep an eye on it and not sure if he threw it back or not.