By Joey Kennedy | [email protected] From al.com

Bill and Donna Goodwin don’t eat grouper. Oh, they used to. Indeed, Bill, a scuba diver for more than 50 years, admits to more.

“I’ve not only eaten them; I’ve killed them spear fishing,” Goodwin says, though with apparent regret. The eating of grouper stopped about a decade ago after Goodwin, his wife and diving friends discovered just how friendly, curious and, well, dog-like grouper really are.

Goodwin and his wife, Donna, own Birmingham’s Physical Therapy Solutions. But one of their passions when not at their physical therapy clinic is scuba diving.

Goodwin dives all over the world, but regular dives at Cayman Brac in the Cayman Islands changed Goodwin’s perspective on grouper. The grouper there were “the first that made us realize they had personalities,” Goodwin says. “They play, hunt, goof around, socialize. They play peek-a-boo. I guess they’re kind of a cross between a dog and a cat.”

Goodwin and his diving buddies have been interacting with the same groupers for seven or eight years. Groupers are long-lived, maybe as much as 30 or 40 years. Goodwin and his friends see them — and interact with them — on just about every diving excursion to the Caribbean.

“We never want to force them to interact,” Goodwin says. “We never chase them.”

But sometimes, the groupers — like dogs — demand attention. On one dive, Goodwin says one particular grouper was at first aloof. Not wanting to bother the fish, Goodwin turned his attention elsewhere. Then, he says, the grouper brushed along his face.

“He was demanding my attention, and before you know it, there was an orgy of fish petting,” Goodwin says with a laugh. “You just can’t predict when they’ll want to do it.”

Goodwin knows what skeptics will say: The grouper is trained or he’s being fed or he just wants some human help removing parasites. But Goodwin points out these grouper are in a preserve where they’re not threatened by fishing. And he emphasizes there is no feeding or training.

“We don’t bait ever,” he says. “It messes with their natural order. These fish are not pursued at all.”

But they sometimes like to pursue their human visitors.

“They have intelligence,” Goodwin says. “As a class of fish, they are way friendly. They make and hold eye contact. They’re so much fun.”

Goodwin is quick to point out that he and his fellow divers are not in the habit of touching sea life.

“A lot of people are sensitive about touching sea life, and so are we,” Goodwin says. “I don’t want to encourage people to do it.”

But on rare occasions, the grouper want to be touched — petted. Like dogs.

His observations over years of observing grouper interact with other grouper and divers led him to draw the comparison to dogs. Once, he observed two groupers, one obviously dominant and another submissive. Like one sees in dog behavior. Then several other groupers came into the area and “this one (the alpha) chased them away aggressively, just like one dog might chase another away.”

They follow the divers around and once, Goodwin says, as they were returning to shore, the grouper followed them close to shore to about 10 feet of water.

“It was like they were saying ‘don’t go, don’t go,'” Goodwin says.

Goodwin is a renowned underwater photographer. In 2009, he won first place in a National Geographic photo contest that had more than 208,000 entries. In 2011, Goodwin was named underwater photographer of the year by the International Union for Conservation of Nature based in Geneva. He was the first American ever to win that prize. He’s published in magazines such as Scuba Diving, Alert Diver and Depth magazine.

Goodwin knows his stuff.

And last October, a grouper even allowed Goodwin to hug it.

“The day I was hugging that grouper, I turned 70,” Goodwin says. “I figured, that’s my birthday present.”

A hug, yes, but certainly not a meal.

Joey Kennedy, a Pulitzer Prize-winner, is a community engagement specialist for Alabama Media Group, AL.com and The Birmingham News. Reach him at [email protected].

PHOTO: Bill Goodwin and his special friend, a dog with fins. (Photo by Donna Goodwin)

For more on this story and to watch the video go to:

http://www.al.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/02/dogs_with_fins_the_underwater.html