Serranus scriba

Author: (Linnaeus, 1758)

Serranus scriba (Linnaeus, 1758)

Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Serranus scriba (Linnaeus, 1758) (updated 2009-06-25)

Diagnosis: body elongate, head rather pointed. D X + 14-16, A III + 7-8; caudal fin truncate or slighly rounded. Scales rather small, 65-75 in lateral line. Colour: grey, purplish or reddish; 5-7 dark brown vertical bands on sides; on head, many narrow, undulating blue lines and red blotches; vertical fins with red dots. Size: to 36 cm SL, usually 20-25 cm.

Habitat: coastal, benthic on the shelf to about 150 m, on rocks and Posidonia beds. Sedentary. Food: fishes and crustaceans. Reproduction: April-August (Mediterranean).

Distribution: eastern Atlantic from the Canaries northward to Bay o: Biscay and around the Azores and Madeira, also Mediterranean and Black Sea. Elsewhere, eastern Atlantic possibly southward to Senegal, also recorded in South Africa to Natal (rare).

Eggs, larvae and young stages. Raffaele, 1888: 19, pl. 2 (fig. 2-4)| Lo Bianco, 1909: 750 | Fage, 1918: 29, fig. 17 | Bertolini, 1933: 316, pl. 20 (fig. 1-4) | Vodeanitki and Kazanova, 1954: 263, fig. 16 (9 fig.) | Marinaro, 1971: 31, pl. 7 (fig. 46).
Otoliths (sagitta). Koken, 1884: 534 | Sanz Echeverría, 1931: 372, pl. 2 (fig. 73) | Chaine, 1935: 109, pl. 8.