They are a tan to brown grouper with dark blotches surrounded by white borders. These fish have yellow speckles all over their bodies and black edges on all of their fins.
Black grouper are found mainly on rocky bottoms, coral reefs and manmade structures from 10 to 200 feet in the tropical Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico.
Heavy bottom tackle is required to turn these determined fish from their holes. Live and dead bait as well as lures will catch these aggressive predators.  In some locations, they can be caught trolling deep diving lures, which gives the advantage to the angler because the grouper leaves its structure to attack.