Mycteroperca fusca (Lowe, 1838)

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 : 148

Mycteroperca fusca (Lowe, 1838)

– Island grouper

Serranus fuscus : Valenciennes, 1843: 8 (GC); Steindachner, 1867: 616-617 (T).

Serranus emarginatus : Valenciennes, 1843: 10 (C); Steindachner, 1865: 399 (T).

Mycteroperca rubra : Fowler, 1936: 762-764 (C); Dooley et al., 1985: 16 (GC, LG, EH, T); Pizarro, 1985: 86 (F); Brito, 1991: 103-104, 112-113 (C); González-Jiménez et al., 1994: 80-82 (C).

Mycteroperca fusca : Franquet and Brito, 1995: 66 (C); Brito et al., 2002: 216, 233-234 (C); González et al., 2012: 146-147 (C); Báez et al., 2019: suppl. tab. (C); Freitas et al., 2019: suppl. tab. S3 (C).

An insular species endemic to the north-eastern Atlantic archipelagos – i.e. the Azores, Madeira, Selvagens, Canary and Cabo Verde Islands ( Heemstra and Anderson, 2016; Freitas et al., 2019; Froese and Pauly, 2020).

It is a common species in waters of the Canaries. Reported maximum size: to 80 cm TL and 9 kg ( González et al., 2012). Spanish vernacular names: abade, abade del país. In the Canaries, it is an important fishery resource exploited all year round by local artisanal fisheries with hook-and-line, traps, and trammel nets. Its landings seem to have stabilized around a mean of 14.6 t /y in the period of 2014-2019, with a peak of 19.4 t in 2016 ( González et al., 2020). It is also targeted by some recreational fishing activity ( González et al., 2012).