The dusky grouper is a large, robust fish with a dark reddish-brown or greyish body, pale yellow or white spots, a prominent head, large mouth, and protruding lower jaw. It features a rounded tail and dark median fins, with a distinctive white border on the caudal and anal fins. This solitary, carnivorous species lives in rocky seabeds of the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic, hiding in caves and hunting octopuses, squid and other fish. It is a protogynous hermaphrodite, starting life as a female and developing into a male later in life.