Groupers belong to a large group of fish known as Serranidae. They are a territorial, mainly shallow water species, they exist as a high trophic level and many species form spawning aggregations where males and females aggregate in large number at often well-known locations. This makes them highly vulnerable to commercial fishing. Almost all species are sequential hermaphrodites, changing from females to males at some point in their lifecycle. This makes them extremely vulnerable to overfishing, as the smaller the average size of the population, the less likely individuals are able to reach a balanced breeding population.