Author: Valenciennes, 1843

Epinephelus caninus Valenciennes, 1843

Diagnosis: body elongate. Canine teeth more developed than in other Epinephelus species. D XI + 13-14; A III + 8; caudal fin truncate. Scales moderate in size, very rough. Colour: purplish-grey, head with 2 or 3 blackish oblique lines, tending to disappear in old individuals. Size: to 150 cm SL.

Habitat: muddy and sandy bottoms to about 300 m. Food: fishes and invertebrates. Reproduction: no data.

Distribution: eastern Atlantic from Morocco (Portugal?) to Senegal; also southern Mediterranean.

Eggs, larvae and young stages. Maurin, 1968: 70, fig. 37.
Otoliths (sagitta). Sanz Echeverría, 1929: 74, pl. 5 (fig. 6).

Note. The exact distribution of this species is unknown because it was often confused with E. guaza.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Subphylum Vertebrata
Superclass Gnathostomata
Class Osteichthyes
Order Perciformes
Suborder Percoidei
Family Serranidae
Genus Epinephelus
Species Epinephelus caninus

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Epinephelus caninus (Valenciennes, 1843)

Scientific synonyms and common names

Epinephelus caninus Valenciennes, 1843

Synonyms:

Serranus caninus Valenciennes, 1843, in Webb & Berthelot, Hist. Nat. Canaries, 2: 10 (Canary islands). Type: apparently lost.
Cerna canina: Doderlein, 1879, 6: 36 (Sicily) Soljan, 1963: 260, fig. 678.
Serranus caninus: Steindachner, 1883a: 65, pl. 2 (fig. 1).
Epinephelus caninus: Doderlein, 1889: 59 Boulenger, 1895: 205 Cadenat, 1935: 398, fig. 11 Dieuzeide et al., 1954: 193, 2 fig. Bini, 1968, 4: 73, fig. Maurin, 1968: 70, fig. 37.

Common names:

cernia nera [It]
cernia bianca[It]
cherna [Es]
dogtooth grouper [En]
mero denton [Es]
mero [Pr]
mérou noir [Fr]
orfoz [Tu]
rophos [He]
toothed grouper [En]

Boulenger, G. A. 1895. Catalogue of the Perciform fishes in the British Museum, 1, 391 pp., 15 pl.

Cadenat, J. 1935. Les Serranidés de la Côte occidentale d'Afrique (du Cap Spartel au Cap Vert). Rev. Trav. Off. (scient. tech.) Pêch. marit., 8 (4): pp. 377-422, 30 fig.

Dieuzeide, R.; Novella, M. (collab. J. Roland), 1953-1955. Catalogue des Poissons des Côtes algériennes. Bull. Stn Aquic. Pêch. Castiglione, I (n.s.), (4), 1952 [1953]: pp. 1-135, 73 fig. n. num.; II (n.s.), (5), 1953 [1954]: pp. 1-258, 135 fig. n. num.; III (n.s.), (6), 1954 [1955]: pp. 1-384, 202 fig. n. num.

Döderlein, P. 1879-1891. Manuale Ittiologico del Mediterraneo ossia senossi metodica delle varie specie di pesci riscontrate sin qui nel Mediterraneo ed in particolare nei mari di Sicilia. Palermo, 1879-1891 (on title: '1879-1880') 5 parts: I, 1879: viii+67 pp.; II, 1881: pp. 1-120; III, 1884: pp. 121-258; IV, 1889: pp. 1-188; V, 1891: pp. 189-320.

Sanz Echeverria, J. 1929. Investigaciones sobre otolitos de peces de Melilla. Boln R. Soc. esp. Hist. nat., 29 (2): 71-80, fig. 1, pl. V-VI.

Soljan, T. 1963. Fishes of the Adriatic (Ribe Jadrana). Fauna et flora adriatica 1 (revised and enlarged for the English edition), 428 pp., many unnumbered fig.

Steindachner, F. 1883a. Ichthyologische Beitrage. XII. Sber. Akad. Wiss. Wien, 1882 [1883], 86 (1): 61-82, 5 pl.

Valenciennes, A. 1837-1844. Ichthyologie des îles Canaries, ou histoire naturelle des poissons rapportés par MM. Webb et Berthelot. In: P. B. Webb et S. Berthelot, Histoire naturelle des Iles Canaries. Paris, 2 (2): 1-109, 26pl. [Plates: 1837: pl.1, 3-4, 8, 11-12; 1838: pl. 7, 10, 13, 14, 17; 1839: pl. 5, 9, 15-16, 18; 1840: pl. 2; 1841: pl. 6- 1842: pl. 19; 1843: pl. 20-23; 1844: pl. 24-26. Text: 1842 : 1-8; 1843: 9-96; 1844: 97-109].

Maurin, C. 1968. Écologie ichthyologique des fonds chalutables atlantiques (de la Baie Ibero-Marocaine à la Mauritanie) et de la Méditerranée occidentale. Revue Trav. Inst. (scient. tech.) Pêch. marit., 32 (1): pp. 1-147, fig. 1-60.

You can continue searching for Epinephelus caninus on one of these Web sites:

Fauna Europaea (animals) | IOPI (plants) | NCBI (genetic)

Google | Yahoo | MSN | Wikipedia