Epinephelus aeneus (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1817)

González-Lorenzo, J. Gustavo, González-Jiménez, José F. & González, José A., 2021, Review of the family Serranidae (Perciformes) from the Canary Islands (eastern-central Atlantic), with the first records of Serranus hepatus and Epinephelus aeneus, Cybium 45 (2), pp. 141-154 : 145-146

Epinephelus aeneus (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1817)

– White grouper

An Atlanto-Mediterranean species; primarily distributed in the southern Mediterranean ( Cadenat, 1935), southern Portugal and along the western coast of Africa from Morocco ( Collignon, 1973 – south of Agadir, rare) and Western Sahara ( Cadenat, 1935; Collignon, 1973 – very frequent) to southern Angola, including the islands in the Gulf of Guinea ( Craig et al., 2011; Heemstra and Anderson, 2016; Froese and Pauly, 2020). Absent from the Azores, Madeira, Selvagens, Canary and Cabo Verde Islands ( Freitas et al., 2019). Recently, it has penetrated into more northern latitudes both in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean: Corsica, France ( Riutort, 2012), southern Bay of Biscay, NW Spain, 43°42’44”N ( Bañón et al., 2017) or its northernmost occurrence in the eastern Adriatic Sea, Croatian coast, 44°06’46.9”N ( Dulčić et al., 2006).

Material examined. – An adult, 895 mm TL (7.5 kg), off Punta del Socorro – Caletón de los Artillos, eastern Tenerife, 28°19’42”N 16°21’06”W, 70 m depth, F/V Kumbayah, 21 Oct. 2015, bottom trap ( Fig. 4 ). After photography, examination and identification, the fish was sold at the fish market, which prevented its preservation.

It is a non-native species to the Canary Islands; the present finding constitutes the first record of E. aeneus for the Canaries. Specimens of this species from the northwest-African coasts have been permanently present in the fish markets of the Canary Islands since the 15 th century ( Balguerías, 1993), where they are highly appreciated and consumed in traditional regional dishes. Spanish vernacular names: cherne; cherne blanco; cherne moruno.

Figures

Figure 4. – First record of Epinephelus aeneus for the Canary Islands. Adult, 895 mm TL, 7.5 kg; off Punta del Socorro, Tenerife, 21 Oct. 2015 (Credits: L. Sabina, 2015).