Serranus cabrilla

Serranus cabrilla (Linnaeus, 1758) English name: Comber Figures 3���4; Tables 1���5 Perca cabrilla: Linnaeus 1758: 294 (no locality given [Mediterranean Sea]). Paracentropristis cabrilla: Fowler 1936: 1291 Serranus cabrilla: Poll 1954:69���72, Fig. 19 (Gabon to s. Angola); Robins and Starck 1961: 261���262 (figs. 1a, 7c, 8a, 8c; + Spain and Italy); Smith & Smith 1966: 88 (in part, not painting; Atlantic species from Mediterranean southwards, colonising South Africa to Natal); Heemstra & Randall 1986: 536 (in part, not Figure or Plate; Mediterranean, eastern Atlantic, English Channel to South Africa, and round coast to Durban). Diagnosis. Dorsal-fin X, 13���14; pectoral-fin rays 14���16; gill rakers 7���8+14���16 (22���24 total); circumpeduncular scales 34���38; lateral-line scales 70���77; scales from dorsal fin to lateral line 9���12; scales from the anal-fin origin to lateral line 22���25. Caudal fin emarginate to slightly forked; cheek, nape, opercle, pectoral-fin base and chest scaly. Description. Body elongate and slightly compressed; body depth less than head length, about 3.4���5.2 in SL; head length 2.6���2.8 in SL. Maxilla extending to below middle of the eye; lower jaw projecting beyond upper jaw; opercle with three flat spines, upper two spines well developed. Snout length greater than eye diameter, snout length 8.8���11.4 in SL, eye diameter 10.0��� 13.9 in SL. Snout, interorbital and maxilla naked. Small scales present at bases of dorsal, anal and pectoral fins; caudal and pelvic fins with or without some small scales basally. Preopercle margin coarsely serrate with developed spines near angle. Premaxillary teeth in several irregular rows, outer teeth enlarged, with large canines anteriorly. Vomer more or less V-shaped, with small teeth. Palatines with patch of small teeth. The first two dorsal-fin spines shortest, the sixth spine usually longest. No distinct notch between dorsal spines and soft rays but soft rays slightly elevated. Pectoral-fin origin slightly behind pelvic-fin origin, distal tip of pectoral fin reaching anus, slightly behind anal-fin origin. Fresh Color (Fig. 4). Body light brown to reddish with eight or nine dark vertical bars dorsolaterally; two or three white horizontal bands from head to tail; ventral part of head and belly mostly white; head with two or three orange-brownish stripes below and behind eye; caudal and soft dorsal fins with small bluish dots; tips of caudal fin reddish or dark brown; pelvic and pectoral fins pale. Juveniles with white midlateral stripe bordered by two thick black stripes, the upper stripe running from tip of snout through middle of eye to upper margin of operculum onto trunk above midlateral line to upper half of caudal peduncle, the lower stripe from base of pectoral fin to lower half of caudal peduncle; the dark stripes often partially broken into dark blotches (Iwamoto & Wirtz 2018; no juvenile specimens available for examination). Color in preservation. Specimens lose all color in preservation. Distribution. From the British Isles to Angola, including Azores, Madeira, Canary Islands, S��o Tom�� and Pr��ncipe, and Cape Verde Islands, also through Mediterranean and Black Sea, and in the Red Sea (Heemstra & Anderson 2016; Iwamoto & Wirtz 2018).
Published as part of Sithole, Yonela, Heemstra, Elaine & Mwale, Monica, 2021, Revalidation and redescription of Serranus knysnaensis Gilchrist, 1904 (Perciformes: Serranidae) with a new distribution record, pp. 99-113 in Zootaxa 5057 (1) on pages 107-108, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5057.1.6, http://zenodo.org/record/5705482
{"references":["Linnaeus, C. (1758) Systema Naturae. 10 th Edition. Impensis Direct. Laurentii Salvii, Holmiae, ii + 824 pp.","Fowler, H. W. (1936) The marine fishes of West Africa based on the collection of the American Museum Congo expedition, 1909 - 1915. Part II. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 70, 607 - 1493.","Poll, M. (1954) Poissons IV. Teleosteens Acanthopterygiens (premiere partie). Resultats Scientifiques. Expedition Oceanographique Belge dans les Eaux Cotieres Africaines de l'Atlantique Sud (1948 - 1949), Bruxelles, 4, 1 - 390.","Robins, C. R. &. Starck II, W. A. (1961) Materials for a revision of Serranus and related fish genera. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 113, 259 - 314.","Smith, J. L. B. & Smith, M. M. (1966) Fishes of the Tsitsikama Coastal National Park. Swan Press Ltd, Johannesburg, 161 pp.","Heemstra, P. C. & Randall, J. E. (1986) Family Serranidae. In: Smith, M. M. & Heemstra, P. C. (eds), Smiths' Sea Fishes. MacMillan, Johannesburg, pp. 509 - 537.","Iwamoto, T. & Wirtz, P. (2018) A synopsis of the Eastern and Central Atlantic combers of the genus Serranus (Teleostei: Perciformes: Serranidae). Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 65, 1 - 39.","Heemstra, P. C. & Anderson, W. D. (2016) Serranidae. Groupers (seabasses, hinds, creolefish, combers, anthiines, soapfish). In: Carpenter, K. E. & De Angelis, N. (Eds.), The Living Marine Resources of the Eastern Central Atlantic. 4. Bony Fishes. Part 2 (Perciformes to Tetraodontiformes) and sea turtles. FAO species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes. FAO, Rome, pp. 2365 - 2413."]}