Author: Linnaeus, 1758
Ctenolabrus rupestris Linnaeus, 1758
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Ctenolabrus rupestris (Linnaeus, 1758) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: body oblong. Head and mouth small. Snout shorter than post-orbital. Head length equal to or more than body depth. Teeth minute, close-set, in several rows, with larger and prominent front canines. First row of teeth (7-15/11-16). Snout with 7-9 pores. Preoperculum margin serrated, its lower edge often smooth. Upper lip with 5-7 folds. Dorsal finrays XVI-XIX + 7-10; anal finrays III + 6-9. Head scaly, except inter-orbital surface and snout; 1-2 small scales on base of dorsal and anal fins. Scales along lateral line 35-39; rows of scales above lateral line 3.5, behind eye 3 4, on inter- operculum 2-3 (9-18 scales). Gill arch with 14-18 short, thin rakers. Vertebrae 31-35. Colour: brown, greenish or orange-red. A black patch on beginning of the dorsal fin, another one on upper part of caudal peduncle, close to caudal fin. Size: to 18 cm SL, usually 10 12 cm.
Habitat: on rocky, weed-covered shores (1-50 m), larger specimens deeper than young. Behaviour: spawning area (0.50-2 m2) guarded by male. Pelagic eggs. Food: Mediterranean: bryozoans, crustaceans and gastropods. Reproduction: English Channel and North Sea in AprilAugust; Norway in July- August; Mediterranean in January-July. Maturity occurs when 2 years old. No sexual dimorphism. Age and grouth: to 7-8 years. Rate of growth faster in Atlantic Ocean than in Mediterranean.
Distribution: from Norway to Morocco, Mediterranean and Black Sea.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Malm, 1877: 479, pl. 2 (fig. 1) | Holt, 1891b: 465, fig. 23-24, 28 and 30; 1898: 124; 1899: 61, pl. 9 (fig. 102) | Heincke and Ehrenbaum 1899 (1900): 266, fig. 17 | Ford, 1922: 693, fig. 9 | Ehrenbaum, 1927: 7, fig. 2A-E | Vodjanitzki and Kazanova, 1954: 274, pl. 26A-E | Sparta, 1956: 593, fig. 476-477 | Banarescu, 1964: 760, fig. 333A-D | Aboussouan, 1964: 133.
Otoliths (sagitta). Fryd, 1901: 25 | Scott, 1906: 61 | Chaine, 1942: 84 | Bauzá-Rullán, 1957: 11.