Groupers can lock themselves into self-created caves between sand and rock using their powerful gill muscles? These stout-bodied, large mouthed fish aren’t built for fast, long-distance swimming, but they do belong to one of the largest and most widely distributed families of fish, the sea basses. They are most often caught by hook and line, and can be found in temperate waters from Florida and the mid-Atlantic states to the Gulf of Mexico, Central America and South America.