Epinephelus coeruleopunctatus (Bloch 1790)

Andréfouët, Serge, Chen, Wei-Jen, Kinch, Jeff, Mana, Ralph, Russell, Barry C., Tully, Dean & White, William T., 2019, Checklist of the marine and estuarine fishes of New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea, western Pacific Ocean, with 810 new records, Zootaxa 4588 (1), pp. 1-360 : 116

Epinephelus coeruleopunctatus (Bloch 1790) —White-spotted grouper

Status at New Ireland. First recorded from St. Mathias by Duncker & Mohr (1929: 57), based on ZMH 11795. Specimens observed by Jeff Kinch during CFMDP Survey at Kavieng fish market in 2004–2005, and by Barry C. Russell on 21 and 28 June 2014; a video of a specimen taken at Nubilus Island, off eastern New Hanover, 3–25 m depth, St. KR 90, in 2014 (identified by Barry C. Russell).

Distribution and habitat. New Ireland: 1, 2, 4.—General distribution: East Africa, Madagascar and western Mascarenes east to Marshall Islands, Fiji and Tonga, north to southern Japan, south to Western Australia, northern New South Wales ( Australia) and New Caledonia. Found in coral reefs on coral or rock bottom, including tidal pools, 0–65 m depth. Marine.