Diplodus cervinus

Author: Lowe, 1841

Diplodus cervinus cervinus Lowe, 1841

Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Diplodus cervinus (Lowe, 1838) (updated 2009-06-25)

Diagnosis: snout rather conical, lips thick. Incisors 10-12 in upper jaw 8 in lower jaw; 1-3 (generally 2) series of little molars at back of each jaw; no molar just behind incisors. Gillrakers 8-10 lower, 7-9 upper. D XI-XII + 11-14; A III + 10-12. Lateral line scales 51-62 to caudal base. Colour: silvery or golden grey; 5 wide dark transverse bands; dark area on inter-orbital space, eyes and cheeks; anterior part of snout dark; small dark spot at the upper pectoral axil; pelvics dark, other fins greyish, distally darker. Size: to 55 cm SL, usually 30-35 cm.

Habitat: inshore waters, on rocky bottoms (Atlantic 30-80 m) and also muddy bottoms (Mediterranean 25-300 m). Gregarious. Food: omnivorous (seaweeds, algae and small invertebrates). Reproduction: January-April .

Distribution: warmer zones of Mediterranean; absent in Golfe du Lion, Adriatic and Black Sea; Atlantic from Bay of Biscay to Cape Verde Is.; Madeira and the Canaries.

Eggs, larvae and young stages. No data.
Otoliths (sagitta). Sanz Echeverría, 1943: 22, pl. 3 (fig. 48).