The preopercle is not smooth rounded, but it is not steeply inclined, and it contains three huge curving spines on its bottom edge as well as very minor serrations at its angle.

[1] The golden grouper is a rariphotic[5] species which inhabits a depth range of 100 to 200 metres (330 to 660 ft),[1] where it occurs over rocky substrates.

[4] The golden grouper is an uncommon species but it is regarded as an important food fish in the Ryukyu Islands of southern Japan.

[1] The golden grouper was first formally described in 1964 by the South African ichthyologist James Leonard Brierley Smith (1897-1968) with the type locality given as the Cook Islands.

[7] However, other authorities place this species within the genus Plectropomus but as well as the physical differences this species of the oceanic "twilight zone" has a different habitat preference to the shallow water coral groupers,[5] although its place within Plectropomus has been suggested by molecular studies.