Description: A moderately sized fish. Body oblong, compressed; its body depth less than the head length. Has a single continuous dorsal fin composed of spines followed by soft rays. Caudal fin rear margin truncated in juveniles; concave in adults. At Madeira, most adults are brownish or dark grey, with irregular pale blotches and spots and a prominent maxillary streak; a fish under stress may reverse this pattern so that the head and body are pale with irregular dark markings. Sometimes they are uniformly yellow or golden.
Global Distribution: Eastern Central Atlantic: Azores, Madeira, Canary Islands, and Cape Verde. It has recently been detected in the Mediterranean.
BIOLOGICAL FEATURES
Size: Maximum length 80.0 cm (total length); common length 50 cm; maximum published weight 3.0 kg.
Age: 30 years.
Weight length rel.:
Growth type:
von Bertallanfy growth parameters:
Males: L∞=952 mm, k=0.053 year-1, t0=-5.11 years (n=35, r2=0.915).
Females: L∞=888 mm, k=0.063 year-1, t0=-3.73 years (n=153, r2=0.977).
Total: L∞=898 mm, k=0.062 year-1, t0=-3.83 years (n=188, r2=0.976).
Reproduction: Protogynic hermaphrodite.
Maturity: Females 335 mm TL, range 229 - 725 mm TL; Males (length at 50% sex reversal) 678 mm TL (range 428 - 745 mm TL).
Behavioural ecology: Usually solitary but can form small schools. Sometimes found in large aggregations which may be related to reproduction. It is more active then the dusky grouper Epinephelus marginatus.
Population structure & migrations:
ECOLOGICAL FEATURES
Depth range: FishBase: ? - 200 m, usually 20 - 30 m.
Canary Islands (Brito et al. 2002): 0 - 150 m.
Habitat: Demersal. Adults occur near the bottom in rocky areas; juveniles are found in tide pools.
Brito A., Pascual P.J., Falcón J.M., Sancho A., González G. (2002). Peces de las islas Canarias. Catálogo comentado e ilustrado. Francisco Lemos Editor, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, 418 pp.
Bustos, R., Luque, Ã., & Pajuelo, J. G. (2009). Age estimation and growth pattern of the island grouper, Mycteroperca fusca (Serranidae) in an island population on the northwest coast of Africa. Scientia Marina, 73(2), 319-328.
Bustos R., Luque A., Pajuelo J.G. (2010). Reproductive biology of the island grouper (Mycteroperca fusca) in the Canary Islands, northwest coast of Africa. Scientia Marina, 74(3), 613-619.
González J., Hernández C., Marrero P., Rapp E. (2000). Peces de Canarias: GuÃa Submarina (5th edition). Francisco Lemus Editor, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canarias, Spain, 235 pp.
Heemstra P., Aronov A., Goren M. (2010). First record of the Atlantic island grouper Mycteroperca fusca in the Mediterranean Sea. Marine Biodiversity Records, 3: e92.
Heemstra P.C., Randall J.E. (1993). FAO Species Catalogue Vol. 16. Groupers of the World (Family Serranidae, Subfamily Epinephelinae). An annotated and illustrated catalogue of the grouper, rockcod, coral grouper and lyretail species known to date. FAO Fisheries Synopsis No. 125, Vol. 16, FAO, Rome, 382 pp.
IUCN (2014). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.1. www.iucnredlist.org
Nieto A., Ralph G.M., Comeros-Raynal M.T., Kemp J., GarcÃa Criado M., Allen D.J., Dulvy N.K., Walls R.H.L., Russell B., Pollard D., GarcÃa S., Craig M., Collette B.B., Pollom R., Biscoito M., Labbish Chao N., Abella A., Afonso P., Ãlvarez H., Carpenter K.E., Clò S., Cook R., Costa M.J., Delgado J., Dureuil M., Ellis J.R., Farrell E.D., Fernandes P., Florin A-B., Fordham S., Fowle, S., Gil de Sola L., Gil Herrera J., Goodpaster A., Harvey M., Heessen H., Herler J., Jung A., Karmovskaya E., Keskin C., Knudsen S.W., Kobyliansky S., KovaÄić M., Lawson J.M., Lorance P., McCully Phillips S., Munroe T., Nedreaas K., Nielsen J., Papaconstantinou C., Polidoro B., Pollock C.M., Rijnsdorp A.D., Sayer C., Scott J., Serena F., Smith-Vaniz W.F., Soldo A., Stump E., Williams J.T. (2015). Europen Red List of Marine Fishes. IUCN and European Union, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 90 pp.
