Epinephelus marginatus (Lowe, 1834)

Edwards, A. J., Gill, A. C. & Abohweyere, P. O., 2003, A revision of F. R. Irvine’s Ghanaian marine fishes in the collections of The Natural History Museum, London, Journal of Natural History 37 (18), pp. 2213-2267 : 2235-2236

Epinephelus marginatus (Lowe, 1834)

Irvine name. Epinephelus gigas (Brünnich) . Species described by Brünnich not clear (nomen dubium) as no type specimen (Heemstra, 1991). Specimens of ‘ E. gigas ’ from West Africa reported by Poll (1954) are E. haifensis Ben-Tuvia, 1953 with which E. marginatus has often been confused (Heemstra and Randall, 1993).

Reference material. Accra, July 1938 (Irvine 283)— BMNH 1938.12 .15.8 (one: 278 mm SL) .

Distribution. Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic from southern British Isles to South Africa. Also known from Brazil (Heemstra and Randall, 1993).

Widely recorded under the name ‘ Epinephelus guaza ’ (e.g. Bauchot and Blanc, 1961b), however, this name is now regarded as a nomen dubium (Heemstra, 1991). On average about 575 tonnes of this species are recorded as being caught in the region each year ( FAO, 2000).