Bluestriped Grunt in Cozumel

Bright yellow with horizontal blue stripes, and one of the larger grunts on the reef. They stack under ledges in tight groups, all facing the same way, and barely move as divers pass.

Quick ID

How To Identify It

Yellow body with continuous blue horizontal stripes, and a dark tail and rear dorsal fin — the dark rear end separates it from every other Caribbean grunt at a glance.

Where You Will See It In Cozumel

Bluestriped Grunt is tagged on reef profiles right along the west coast, across a depth band of roughly 6 to 98 feet.

Without a boat. It turns up at Chankanaab Shallow and Playa Corona — all shore entries, so you dive them on your own schedule.

On an ordinary beginner boat dive. It is recorded at Palancar Gardens, Paradise, Punta Dalila, Yellow House and Yucab. No advanced certification needed.

Deeper, and on the walls. It also shows up on San Juan, Tormentos, Cantarel (Eagle Ray Wall) and Chun-Chacaab.

Conditions change the odds more than the site does — the current, the time of day and how much the group has already stirred up the sand. Ask your guide what they have been seeing that week.

Behaviour

Rests by day, feeds at night on invertebrates over sand and grass. Like other grunts it makes sound with its throat teeth and will face off with another fish, mouths open.

If a group is stacked under a ledge, approach slowly and level — they part around a diver rather than fleeing, which is why they photograph well.

Commonly Confused With

• French grunt — Yellow stripes on white, and no dark tail.
• Porkfish — Two black bars across the head, which the bluestriped grunt does not have.
• Cottonwick — Black wedge along the back and into the tail, pale body.

Diving Etiquette And Safety

Keep fins off the reef and hands to yourself. Nothing here needs to be touched, moved or provoked to be seen well.

Part of the Cozumel marine life guide · see Cozumel dive sites · plan your Cozumel dive trip

Photo courtesy of the Cozumel Coral Reef Restoration Program, used with permission.