Dentex maroccanus

Author: Valenciennes, 1830

Dentex (Polysteganus) maroccanus Valenciennes, 1830

Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Dentex (Polysteganus) maroccanus Valenciennes in Cuvier and Valenciennes, 1830 (updated 2009-06-25)

Diagnosis: upper profile of head gently curved to the level of eye, then more abrupt; eye large. Gillrakers 9-12 lower, 7 9 upper. D XII + 10-11; A III + 8-9; length of dorsal spines increasing to fourth or fifth, the following subequal. Lateral line scales 46-51 to caudal base. Colour: silvery light red, head darker, fins pinkish, distal border of dorsal and anal reddish; caudal fork with red margin; small dark blotch at the upper pectoral axil. Size: to 41 cm SL, usually 18-25 cm.

Habitat: inshore waters on various bottoms, mostly gravels or conglomerates, from 20 to 500 m (Atlantic), 250 m (Mediterranean). Food: carnivorous (mostly crustaceans and fish, secondarily molluscs). Reproduction: seasonal between 50 and 100 m, spring and summer (Atlantic), spring (Mediterranean); maturity at 10 cm (Mediterranean).

Distribution: southern and eastern Mediterranean; absent in Adriatic and Black Sea; Atlantic from Bay of Biscay to Gulf of Guinea, occasionally further north.

Eggs, larvae and young stages. No data.
Otoliths (sagitta). Sanz Echeverría, 1930: 174, fig. 45; 1943: 6, fig. B; 1950: 437, fig. A.