Cleatus, Florida Aquarium’s first goliath grouper, has died. He was (about) 30. - Tampa Bay Times

TAMPA — Cleatus the goliath grouper was there 25 years ago when the Florida Aquarium first opened its doors in 1995.

Now one of the aquarium’s first residents has died. He was 30 — but that’s an estimate.

His death was announced by the Florida Aquarium on Monday evening. He died “after succumbing to a prolonged illness,” said a statement from the aquarium. But officials did not say exactly when Cleatus died.

“Cleatus will be missed by our staff and we know he connected with millions of our guests over the past 25 years,” the statement said.

Atlantic goliath grouper, or Epinephelus itajara, can grow up to 8 feet in length and weigh up to 800 pounds. Cleatus was about 5½ feet long and weighed about 300 pounds, according to a 2018 Florida Aquarium blog post.

He was one of two goliath groupers residing at the aquarium. The other is Gill, who is about 4½ feet long, 200 pounds and lives in the main coral reef habitat. Cleatus took up residence in the Bays and Beaches gallery.

“They’re almost as smart as a dog,” senior staff veterinarian Ari Fustukjian said about the pair in the 2018 blog post. “Long-lived apex predators can be quite intelligent.”

They’re also territorial, which is why they were kept in separate areas.

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Goliath grouper can swallow their prey whole. The longest verified life span for a goliath grouper on record is 37 years, according to the aquarium. But some goliath grouper are believed to have lived up to 50 years.

The species was once so badly overfished that it was almost listed under the Endangered Species Act. They live mostly in shallow tropical waters among coral reefs from the Gulf of Mexico to the Florida Keys to the Caribbean. Harvesting the species in the southeast U.S. was prohibited in 1990, allowing the goliath grouper to rebound.

However, some fishermen consider them a nuisance stealing their catches, and in 2018 asked the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to lift the ban on fishing them. The commission declined to do so, but asked scientists to continue studying the population. The goliath grouper is still listed as “critically endangered.”

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Cleatus, Florida Aquarium’s first goliath grouper, has died. He was (about) 30. - Tampa Bay Times
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