EP8: 野生龙虎斑 Wild Hybrid Grouper Fishing Kerapu Besar [Singapore Shore & Offshore Luring]

Hybrid Groupers seems to be making a comeback here in Southern Waters in Singapore. Join me on an adventure to our nearby Southern Islands at St John to hunt for these groupers as I use artificial crankbaits to effectively target them. Hybrid Grouper is a crossbreed species by using the sperm of the Queensland [Giant] Grouper and eggs of a Brown Marbled [Tiger] Grouper through In-vitro Fertilization to harness the best of both genes. As such, these hybrid groupers can grow to huge sizes within a very short period of time while retaining their delicate and firm meat making them a ideal choice for agriculture and commercial farming. As the years pass, they have made their way to the wild through mercy releases or as escapees from fish farms. They have established their population in many teopical areas like Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong and even some parts of China. These super aggressive hybrids poses an ecological threat to the local biodiversity as they compete for food among local species and also seriously disrupting the food chain as they eat up some local species with their voracious appetite. In recent years, we are also seeing juvenile hybrids occuring in the wild suggesting a possibility that these hybrids seem to be able to breed with local species creating new hybrid strains. More research needs to be done on these speciez and their effects on our ecosystem. I am not an advocator of what you should do with your catch. Usually, I will bring back the hybrids or give it to my friends if I catch one. On times when it is a hassle to bring back, i will also release the fish. Hoping people do not release anymore foreign species to our waters as invasive species have serious complications to the local ecosystem. Hoping nature has a solution for everything.