Serranus (Serranus) cabrilla (Linnaeus, 1758)

Iwamoto, Tomio & Wirtz, Peter, 2018, A Synopsis of the Eastern and Central Atlantic Combers of the Genus Serranus (Teleostei: Scorpaeniformes: Serranidae), Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 65 (1), pp. 1-39 : 8-11

Serranus (Serranus) cabrilla (Linnaeus, 1758)

Figures 5–7

Perca cabrilla Linnaeus, 1758 (no locality given).

Paracentropristis cabrilla : Fowler, 1936:1291 (14 spec., 137–325 mm; Madeira, Canaries, Azores) .

Serranus cabrilla : Poll 1954:69–72, fig. 19 (17 spec., 79–240 mm; Gabon to s. Angola). Robins and Starck 1961:261–262, figs. 1a, 7c, 8a, 8c (4 spec., Spain and Italy). Quero et al. 1990:704–705 (compiled).

DIAGNOSIS.— D X,13–14; P 14–16; V III,7; gill rakers 6–8+12–16 (18–24 total); pored lateral-line scales 70–77; circumpeduncular scales 36–40. Caudal fin shallowly forked, upper lobe slightly longer than lower lobe, a very short streamer on upper lobe in juveniles, but none developed in adults. Interradial membranes of dorsal and anal fins scaled on basal one-half to one-third. Nape, opercle, cheek, pectoral-fin base and chest scaled.

DESCRIPTION.— Body compressed, width across pectoral fin base about 2 in HL; depth about 3 in SL; head about 2.7– 2.8 in SL. Dorsal and ventral profiles gently curved; the snout pointed and longer than orbit diameter; interorbital width (fleshy) slightly greater than orbit diameter; lower jaw projecting beyond upper jaw; maxilla extending to below midorbit. Anterior nostrils with low rims lacking fingerlike fringes or cirri. Opercular spines three, the upper two fairly well developed, the lowermost obscure in adults, but more visible in juveniles. Preopercle margin coarsely serrat- ed, largest spines near angle. Interopercle smooth, (a few imbedded scales in large specimens); snout, interorbit, occiput, suborbit, jaws, gular and branchiostegal membranes naked.

Premaxillary teeth in several irregular rows, the outer enlarged with one or more large canines at anterior end. A single file of enlarged, spaced teeth on dentary, largest teeth midlength on jaw; much smaller teeth interspersed on sides of larger teeth and a cluster of small teeth at anterior end. Vomer broadly V-shaped with small teeth. Palatine teeth all small, in a short to elongate patch.

Scales small, ctenoid, present on sides of head and nape to margin of frontals, but absent on interorbital, snout, suborbital region, jaws, gular and branchiostegal membranes, interopercle bone, outer margin of preopercle, and lower margin of subopercle. Small scales at bases of dorsal, anal, pectoral and caudal fins, and minimally (if at all) on pelvic fins.

First 4–6 spines of dorsal fin graduated, the 6 th spine usually longest, the spines following subequal; the soft rays slightly higher, forming a slight rise (but no distinct notch) in profile of dorsal fin. Anal-fin spines much shorter than soft rays, the first spine somewhat more than half length of second and third spines, the last three or four soft rays longest. Pectoral fin broad-based, its origin slightly behind that of pelvic fins and about on same vertical as origin of dorsal fin, its distal tip over anus, slightly behind origin of anal fin. Pelvic fin falling well short of anus. Caudal fin shallowly lunate, almost truncate, upper and lower lobes about equal, but upper lobe with a very short streamer in small juveniles.

Color: ( Fig. 5 ) A series of about nine dark vertical bands along the light brown to reddish body, interrupted in some specimens by two or three white stripes; underside of head and belly mostly white; bands on body reduced to dark lateral blotches in some. Caudal and soft dorsal fins punctated with small bluish dots; in some individuals the basal one-third to one-half of soft dorsal fin dark but distally pale with small bluish spots; tips of caudal fin occasionally reddish ( Fig. 6 ). Posterior margin of caudal fin occasionally blackish but never with black lobes as in S. atricauda . Juveniles may be quite different: a 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. The juvenile color pattern is often very similar to that of S. atricauda (compare with Fig. 3 ), although three juveniles (CAS 234559, 44.4–50. 7 mm SL) trawled in 53– 50 m off Senegal lacked the prominent dark lateral stripes.

As in many other fish species, S. cabrilla specimens from deep water tend to be more yellow ( Medioni et al. 2001). In one individual from deeper waters at the Azores ( Fig. 7 ), ground color golden-yellow on flanks, yellowish-orange on head, and brownish to tan on dorsum; four or five metallic-blue longitudinal lines or stripes on body and three diagonal stripes on head, the lowest stripe on head originating on snout and running to preopercle angle onto subopercle; the upper two stripes originating below orbit and terminating at margin of opercle. A fourth diagonal stripe present in some, originating on posterior portion of maxilla and extending a short distance onto preopercle. Fins yellowish; the soft dorsal with dark basal half, the dark bands on body extending onto dorsal-fin rays.

Size: 40 cm TL.

HABITAT AND DISTRIBUTION.— Over hard bottoms from the shore to 450 m; from the British Isles to Angola, including the Azores, Madeira, the Canary Islands, São Tomé Island (based on photo by the second author) and Príncipe Island (first record based on CAS 234287), apparently here and only in deep water at the Cape Verde Islands (Freitas et al., in prep.); also throughout the Mediterranean and into the Black Sea. Its presence in the Red Sea is attributed to invasion from the Mediterranean Sea after the Suez Canal was opened in 1869 ( Norman 1927; Tortonese 1954; Meisler 1988:156). Records of the species from South Africa are apparently of the closely similar S. knysnaensis Gilchrist, 1904 (Heemstra and Anderson, 2016).

SPECIMENS EXAMINED (14 spec.).— São Tomé e Príncipe : CAS 234287 (1, 208 mm SL); Príncipe Is. , purchased dockside in São Tomé City from fisherman selling catch taken off Príncipe; 7 Apr. 2012. Senegal : CAS 234559 (3, 44.4–50. 7 mm SL); 15°19.1ʹN, 16°55.5ʹW, 53– 50 m ; R / V Dr Fridtjof Nansen CCLME Survey 2012, sta. 98, 28 May 2012. Ghana : CAS 234960 (1, 205 mm SL); 5°54.77ʹN, 1°16.15ʹE; 94–95 m ; R / V Dr Fridtjof Nansen Survey 2010.04.04, sta. 1; 30 Apr. 2010. Cameroon : CAS 238009 (1, 195 mm SL); collector A.I. Good; 1940. Italy : CAS-SU 20933 (3, 142- 216 mm SL); and CAS-SU 20933 (3, 142– 175 mm SL); Naples ; collector E.C. Starks; ca. 1907 . CAS-IU 7545 (1, 162 mm SL); Sicily, Palermo ; collector P. Doderlein; 1886. Spain : CAS-SU 69064 (1, 171 mm SL); Mediterranean Sea ; Gibralter, Gibralter Harbor; collector T. H. Work; 12 Aug. 1947. Red Sea : USNM 203668 (4, 60–98 mm SL); “Abu Zueima” [sic, possibly Abu Zenima , in Egypt]; coll. H. Steinitz, 22 Sept. 1967 .

Figures

FIGURE 5. Serranus cabrilla. Adult from near Hyères, Var, Provence, France. Photograph by Lucas Berenger.

FIGURE 6. Serranus cabrilla. Adult from the Canary Islands. Photograph by Rogelio Herrera.

FIGURE 7. Serranus cabrilla. Yellow morph from Ivory Coast (4°34ʹN, 6°37ʹW), collected by R/V Dr. Fridtjof Nansen by bottom trawl in 81 m. Photograph by Oddgeir Alvheim.

FIGURE 3. Serranus atricauda. Juvenile from Faial Island, Azores. Photograph by Peter Wirtz.