Author: Lacepède, 1801
Lepidotrigla cavillone Lacepède, 1801
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Lepidotrigla cavillone (Lacepède, 1801) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: head large, covered with strong bony plates; occipital groove deeply marked and spiny; 2 spines in front of eyes; preorbital bones (rostrum) with outer spines larger than the others; cleithral spine long, greater than 13% SL. No teeth on vomer. Longest free ray of pectoral fin rather short, never reaching the anus. First dorsal fin with 8-10 spines; second dorsal and anal fins with 14-16 rays. Breast scaleless; body scales firmly attached and wider than long, strongly ctenoid. Vertebrae 30-32 (11-13 precaudal and 19-21 caudal). Total gillrakers on first gill arch 4-9. Colour: pink or dusky pink; pectoral fins dark blue, rosy at their base. Size: to 20 cm.
Habitat: muddy sand and gravels between 30 and 450 m depth. Food: crustaceans (mainly mysids and amphipods). Reproduction: spawning from May to July; sexual maturity at about 2 years old; pelagic larvae.
Distribution: in the eastern Atlantic from southern coast of Portugal to Mauritania; Mediterranean, but absent in Black Sea.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Lo Bianco, 1888: 436 | Raffaele, 1888: 31, pl. 1 (fig. 19-20), pl. 2 (fig. 15-16) | Marion, 1894: 120 | Holt, 1899: 25 | Lo Bianco, 1909: 724 | Fage, 1918: 117, fig. 84-86 | Padoa, 1956: 628, fig. 504-507, pl. 39 (fig. 7-14) (under the name Lepidotrigla aspera) | Aboussouan, 1964: 134, fig. 17.
Otoliths (sagitta). Sanz Echeverría, 1929: 288, pl. 13 (fig. 11-12) | Priol, 1932: 227, fig. 1 | Chaine and Duvergier, 1934: 129, pl. 3.