A large pale grouper covered in dark blotches, and unusually willing to approach divers. The Cod Hole on the northern Great Barrier Reef is dived for it.
To about 2 m, pale grey-brown covered in large dark blotches — the potatoes of the name — with smaller dark spots on the head and fins. It is separated from the other large groupers on the size and spacing of those blotches rather than on anything subtler, and the mouth and lower jaw are pale.
Its behaviour is what put it on this site. It approaches divers, holds position close to them, and shows no sign of being bothered, which is unusual in a fish that size and is why the Cod Hole on the northern Great Barrier Reef became one of the best-known dive sites in Australia. That approachability is also why the species disappeared from unprotected reefs: a fish that comes to look at a diver is an easy fish to spear. Where it survives it is because a specific site has been protected for decades. Do not feed it, and do not touch it; the site works because the animals stay wild enough to keep turning up.
Ratings are per location: 1 means found on most dives that look for it, 5 means a handful of records. Where enough dives have been logged the figure is calculated from them; otherwise it is an editorial estimate, and says so. We publish habitat and destination, not the dive site.
