Description: Body elongate, strong and muscular, laterally compressed. Mouth large, with strong acute teeth. Variable colour pattern. Brown or olive green overall, mottled, rarely spotted, slightly lighter ventrally and on the underside of head. Anal fin edged with white. Characteristic small dark spot on the corner of the mouth.
Global Distribution: Subtropical distribution in the Central Eastern and Western Atlantic, including islands. View Map
BIOLOGICAL FEATURES
Size: Maximum total length 122 cm; common length 70.0 cm; Maximum published weight: 750.0 g.
Reproduction: Leptocephali larvae observed in the Gulf of Guinea.
Maturity:
Behavioural ecology: Solitary. Most active at night.
Population structure & migrations:
ECOLOGICAL FEATURES
Depth range: FishBase: ? - 145m.
Habitat: A benthic species inhabiting rocky shores and reefs where the water is clear. Found on rough sand, gravel or rocks.
Feeding habits: Carnivorous.
Trophic level: FishBase: 4.3
FISHERIES
Commercial interest: Not a commercial species, but it may occasionally be caught and consumed.
Conservation status: Global: Not evaluated.
Europe: Data deficient.
Nutritional information & food safety: Food safety: large specimens may be ciguatoxic.
REFERENCES
Carpenter K.E., ed. (2002). The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Volume 2: Bony fishes part 1 (Acipenseridae to Grammatidae). FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes and American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 5. FAO, Rome, pp. 601-1374.
Hureau J.-C., ed. (1984-1985). Fishes of the North-Eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. UNESCO. Accessed through: Marine Species Identification Portal. World Wide Web electronic publication. http://species-identification.org/index.php (2014).
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.
Oliveira M.T., Santos M.N., Coelho R., Monteiro V., Martins A., Lino P.G. (2014). Weight–length and length–length relationships for reef fish species from the Cape Verde Archipelago (tropical northâ€eastern Atlantic). Journal of Applied Ichthyology, in press.
