are they common in the Mediteranean, now or in Biblical times?
and has anyone heard that Jonah may have actually been eaten by a grouper, not a whale? If so, how would you know?
thanks
I saw one at the Boston Aquarium that was about 5 feet long, and I doubt I would have been able to put my arms around it had I been so inclined. And it had these big lips. I labeled it in my head the “Edward G. Robinson Fish”.
But I doubt it could eat anyone.
I remember hearing the Jonah thing.
Some Nova or National G program or some such. The people involved had measured whale throats and such and concluded that only a grouper (a large one) would have a throat large enough to handle a grown man’s shoulders.
I read in some reputable source that groupers can get big enough to but their mouth around divers and “swallow” them head to waist. Then they spit them out unharmed. Like it’s some sort of game. Heh.
Goliath Grouper 2
Record Warsaw Grouper -265 lbs
Big fish get a giant name - The group responsible for naming fish changes the common name of Florida’s largest grouper from its objectionable ‘‘jewfish.’’
thanks great links, I noticed this:
quote:
Danger to Humans
Very large goliath grouper have been observed to stalk divers and even conduct unsuccessful ambushes of the same. Large individuals of this species should be treated with caution.
but in regards to the jonah thing their range seems to be the americas, and some of western africa, but certainly not the med. or red seas.
any thoughts of this? i am the furthest thing from a biblical scholar, ut wasn’t Jonah lost at sea? do you think the bible is suggesting jonah discovered america? (insert winking smiley here-i cant figure out how to do them in replys)
Well, they certainly don’t exist in the polluted Mediterranean of today. It’s possible groupers, or something similar, existed in the Med in biblical times. But, the whole concept is absurd.
Fish have very strong digestive acids, which are needed because most of them, including groupers and their relatives, swallow their prey whole. The strong acids are necessary to quickly kill and digest a live, whole fish. Not a healthy environment in which to spend an extended period of time. Not to mention the complete lack of air.
As long as we’re dancing around fantasy land, why not consider that Jonah was captured and held in the world’s first submarine? 
Maybe even a UFO? 
At least those might provide a survivable environment.
BTW, to add “smilies” to a reply, you just type in the characters that make them up, such as semi-colon right parenthese for a wink. Also, if you preview your reply, it will give you the opportunity to add them before submitting (it always puts them at the end of your text, but you can cut-and-paste them wherever you want).
I’m not touching the Jonah story, which is absurd on its face. But here (inside the “My Photos” folder) is a fairly decent picture I took a while back of a black grouper next to a diver in Roatan, Honduras. The diver is a little bit behind the grouper, but not much–his fin is just about even with the fish. Black groupers max out at around 4 ft., and I’d say this one is right there. As noted above, the Goliath grouper/jewfish gets to be a monster, reaching a maximum of 8ft, but is rarely seen that large thanks to overfishing.
Groupers are great. In protected waters where they’re used to divers, they’ll just follow you around like puppies.