In January 1971, a young biologist braved strong currents to dive on a massive spawning aggregation (gathering of reproductive adults) of Nassau grouper (family Epinephelidae) at Cat Cay in The Bahamas. The paper he published was the first-ever eye-witness account in the scientific literature describing a spectacular gathering of 30,000 to 100,000 large adult Nassau grouper (Epinephelus striatus) preparing to spawn (1). Historically, this grouper was among the most important fishery species in the tropical western Atlantic, with earlier accounts also documenting abundance during its reproductive season (2⇓⇓⇓–6). In 2003, barely 30 y after Lavett-Smith’s (1) account, the species was listed as threatened on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. By 2016 it was included on the United States Endangered Species List and in 2017 was added to Annex III of the Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (SPAW) protocol. All listings were unusual for a commercial reef fish and highlighted the growing crisis for this iconic species brought about by uncontrolled fishing on its spawning aggregations and a many-hundredfold decline in production from historic levels.

中文翻译：

---

受到威胁的拿骚石斑鱼的希望之岛。

1971年1月，一位年轻的生物学家冒着强大的水流潜入巴哈马Cat Cay的纳索石斑鱼（E科）的巨大产卵聚集体（繁殖成年动物的聚集）。他发表的论文是科学文献中有史以来第一个目击者的叙述，它描述了一个壮观的，聚集了30,000至100,000只大型拿骚石斑鱼（Epinephelus striatus）的产卵过程（1）。从历史上看，这是石斑鱼在热带大西洋西部最重要的渔业物种之间，与在其繁殖季节（早期的帐户也记录丰2 。⇓ 。⇓ 。⇓ - 6）。2003年，仅比Lavett-Smith（1）帐户，该物种在国际自然保护联盟（IUCN）红色名录中被列为受威胁物种。到2016年，它已被列入《美国濒危物种名录》，并于2017年被添加到《特别保护区和野生生物议定书》的附件三中。所有清单对于商业珊瑚礁鱼类来说都是不寻常的，并突显了这种标志性物种的日益严重的危机，这是由其产卵场上不受控制的捕捞以及产量比历史水平下降数百倍所造成的。