Epinephelus adscensionis · Epinephelidae · predator
Medium-sized grouper, painted red, from rocky coasts and shallow ledges. Wary and hiding in holes, it takes crab and natural bait worked next to the rock.
Also called: garoupa-gato, gato, peixe-gato, garoupa-chita, garoupa-pintada, badejo-pintado, rock hind
Choose the place and the species. The index, from 0 to 100, combines weather, sun, moon and tide with each fish's habits. Up to 28 days, with each day's confidence.
Reading the weather across 3 global models and 31 simulations…
Each card shows the day's index (0 to 100) and, below it, a strip with the index for each hour, from 0h to 23h. from poor to excellent.
Choose how many fishing days. We compare each stretch by its average index, discount days with a warning or closed season, and show the 3 best.
Line: the middle value of 31 simulations of the American GEFS model. Band: where 8 out of 10 fall. Narrow, firm trend; wide, high uncertainty.
The rock hind (garoupa-gato) lives in the western Atlantic, from Massachusetts and Bermuda to the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean and southern Brazil, and also on Ascension and Saint Helena islands in the middle of the Atlantic. It inhabits rocky coasts and reefs, usually down to about 15 m, but reaches 120 m; juveniles appear in tide pools. It is solitary and hard to approach. It eats mostly crabs and also fish. It grows slowly: it can live 25 years and matures at about 30 cm. In rocky-shore and boat fishing it is caught with natural bait held still near the rocky bottom and sometimes with a small jig. It is not on the national list of threatened species, but because it grows slowly, it is sensitive to fishing.
Robust body, sand to greenish-gray, covered with reddish-brown spots that become denser on the belly. Two or three dark saddle-shaped marks at the base of the dorsal fin and another at the top of the tail peduncle. Dorsal fin with 11 spines. The jabu is smaller, reddish, with blue specks; the garoupa-verdadeira is brown with light spots and lacks the red spots.
In Brazil, on rocky coasts, reefs and islands, from the Northeast to the South.
Habitat: Rocky coasts and reefs with holes, ledges and shallow shoals; juveniles in tide pools.
coast
states
Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Sergipe, Bahia, Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Paraná, Santa Catarina
Fished year-round; clear water and a calm sea on the coast matter more than the month.
Daytime, with peaks at dawn and dusk. An ambush hunter by day, most active at dawn and dusk.
Cold upwelling shuts down activity on the coasts of the Southeast.
Right after a cold front, with a churned sea, fishing drops off.
Small effect; spring tides move more bait along the coast.
Not much relevant at sea; a storm on the rocky shore is dangerous.
Surge muddies the water and stops rocky-shore fishing for days.
Very wary: engine noise and footsteps on the rocks scare it away.
A strong sea wind makes the rocky coast dangerous.
A moving tide brings crabs and small fish to the corner of the rock.
On the coast, from 1 to 15 m; on shoals, down to about 60 m.
lures
natural baits
accessories
Natural bait held still by the hole with the drag almost locked: it bites and goes back into the rock.
Summary of the regulations we found, with the source for each. Rules change; before keeping or transporting fish, check with the state environmental agency.
Conservation: Not on the national list (Portaria GM/MMA 1.667/2026). We found no specific federal rule for this species.
In Mexico, catching all grouper species, a group in which the official standard includes the rock hind (mero cabrilla), is prohibited from February 1 to March 31 in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean off Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo, up to the Belize border. Bottom longlines are also prohibited during the period.
In federal waters around Puerto Rico, beyond 9 miles from the coast, the recreational angler may keep a maximum of 5 fish per day from groupers, snappers and parrotfish combined (up to 15 per boat when there are 3 or more people aboard). The limit does not apply to anyone with a commercial license from Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands.
A fish brought up from more than 15 to 20 m may have barotrauma: release it with a descender. Support its belly and do not hold it by the mouth alone.
White flesh of good quality. In Caribbean reef areas there are ciguatera records.
Length-weight relationship W = a·Lb (a = 0.01175, b = 3.1; FishBase (estimativa bayesiana para o gênero e o formato do corpo, comprimento total)). It's an average: a fat or lean fish can vary by 10% to 20%.
estimated weight
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The season weights (months), the time of day and the sensitivities (cold, pressure, moon, wind, rain, tide, strong light, murky water and noise) are the app's editorial estimates, based on the literature below and on the field experience of anglers and guides. They are not official data nor a measurement made for this species, and they may vary by region and year. Closed seasons and legal rules appear in the rules section, with the norm and a link.
The weather comes from three independent global models, cross-checked hour by hour: when they agree, confidence goes up; when they diverge, the band between them shows on the chart. Beyond 16 days, we use the GEFS ensemble of 31 simulations: if 20 of the 31 predict rain, the chance of rain is 65%. Sun and moon are calculated astronomically, with no uncertainty.
The index adds up, weighted for each species: time of day (species curve anchored to real sunrise and sunset), moon (transits, rise and set, phase), pressure (3 h trend and 24 h swing), water temperature (in rivers, estimated from air temperature; at sea, estimated by an ocean model), wind, rain, clouds, tide and the month in the species' cycle.
Accuracy measured in the reference project (4 regions, 93 days, forecast vs. observed): maximum temperature is off by 0.6 °C on average the next day and 1.7 °C at 7 days; rain of 5 mm or more is detected 76% of the time the next day and 57% at 7 days. Detection isn't everything: the false alarm rate isn't published here yet, and 93 days in 4 regions is still a small sample. We now also measure every day, at the app's destinations:
Your location is saved only on this device and feeds the forecast, the map and the "today" on the home page.
