Author: (Linnaeus, 1758)
Serranus hepatus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Serranus hepatus (Linnaeus, 1758) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: body fusiform, rather robust. D X + 11-13, A III + 6-7 caudal fin rounded or truncate. Scales moderate in size, 44-50 in lateral line. Colour: brownish, 2-5 dark vertical bands on side, of which the one below the soft dorsal fin bifurcates above; 3 yellow lines on head; a black blotch on the middle of dorsal fin; pelvic fins and base of anal fin blackish. Size: to 15 cm SL, usually 10-12 cm.
Habitat: benthic on the shelf to about 100 m, on Posidonia beds, sandy and muddy bottoms. Food: fishes and invertebrates. Reproduction: March August (Mediterranean).
Distribution: eastern Atlantic from Portugal to the Canaries and Mediterranean. Elsewhere, African coasts southward to Senegal.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Holt, 1899: 11, pl. 4 (fig. 33-40) | Lo Bianco, 1909: 7041 Fage, 1918: 24, fig. 8-11 | de Buen, 1932: 25, fig. 17 | Bertolini, 1933: 325, pl. 21 (fig. 1-11) | Varagnolo, 1964: 255, pl. 1 (fig. 5) | Marinaro, 1971: 31, pl. 6 (fig. 2-4).
Otoliths (sagitta). Chaine, 1935: 115, pl. 8 | Bauzá Rullán, 1954: 63, pl. 10 (fig. 1).