Epinephelus coioides ( HAMILTON, 1822 )

Heemstra, P. C., 1991, A Taxonomic Revision Of The Eastern Atlantic Groupers (Pisces: Serranidae), Bol. Mus. Mun. Funchal 43 (226), pp. 5-71 : 23-26

Epinephelus coioides ( HAMILTON, 1822)

Fig. 7

Bola? coioides HAMILTON, 1822: 82 (type locality, Ganges estuaries, India; holotype not preserved).

Serrarıus nebulosus VALENCIENNES , in CUV. & VAL., 1828: 313 (type locality, unknown; holotype MNHN 7421, dry specimen, 172 mm. SL, incorrectly identified as Paranthias furcifer by BAUCHOT et al., 1984).

Serranus suillus VALENCIENNES , in CUV. & VAL., 1828: 335 (type locality, Coromandel coast of India; syntypes MNHN A. 7710, dry specimen, 275 min. SL; MNHN 7288, 109 mm. SL).

Homalogrystes Guntheri ALLEYNE & MACLEAY, 1877: 269 , Pl. 6, Fig. 3 (type locality, Katow, New Guinea; holotype not located).

Diagnosis: Dorsal fin XL, 14- 16; anal fin III,8; pectoral fin rays 18- 20; lateral-line scales 58-65; lateral scale series 100- 118; gill-rakers 8- 10 + 14- 17, total 23-26 (including 3 -8 rudiments on each limb. Body elongate, the depth contained 2.9 - 3.7 times in SL (for fish 10-78 SL); body width 1.4-2.0 times in the depth; head length 2.3- 2.6 times in SL; pectoral fins 1.6-2.2 times and pelvic fins 1.9-2.7 times in head length. Caudal fin rounded; dorsal fin with 3rd or 4th spines longest, 2.9-4.0 times in head length, the interspinous membranes distinctly incised; anal fin with 3rd spine usually longer than the 2nd; the fin margin rounded; pectoral fins fleshy. Interorbital flat or slightly convex; preopercle subangular, the posterior edge with enlarged serrae at the angle and a broad shallow notch just above the angle; upper edge of operculum straight or somewhat convex. Maxilla reaches to or slightly past a vertical at rear edge of eye; midlateral part of lower jaw with 2 or 3 rows of subequal teeth. Nostrils subequal. Lateral body scales ctenoid, with minute auxiliary scales; lateral-line tubes of anterior scales branched in adults; adults with small bony platelets on lateral side of 1 st gill arch. Pyloric caeca numerous (about 50-60).

Colour: Head and body tan dorsally, shading to whitish ventrally; numerous small brownish orange or reddish brown spots on head, body and median fins; body with 5 faint, irregular, oblique, dark bars which bifurcate ventrally; first dark bar below anterior dorsal fin spines, last bar on caudal peduncle; 2 dark spots on interopercle and another 1 or 2 at junction of sub- and interopercles. Orange spots turn brown on exposure to air and become fainter (more diffuse) in preservative.

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION

E. coioides occurs from the Red Sea south to at least Durban and east to the western Pacific, where it ranges from the Ryukyu Islands of Japan to New South Wales and out to the islands of Palau and Fiji. Other localities include the Persian Gulf, India, Reunion, Mauritius, Andaman Islands, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Philippines and north coast of Australia from Western Australia to Queensland. BEN--TUVIA and LOURIE (1969) reported a 420 mm. specimen of " Epinephelus tauvina " from the Mediterranean coast of Israel. Without further discussion of this fish, RANDALL and BEN-TUVIA (1983) changed this identification to " E. malabaricus " (Note: the account of E. malabaricus in this paper is a compostite of E. coioides and E. malabaricus .) In the original description of this specimen, BEN-TUVIA and LOURIE (1969: 246) state "Head and body covered with bright orange spots more or less regularly dispersed ", which would rule out malabaricus . In addition to the colour pattern, the meristic and morphometric data given by BEN- TUVIA and LOURIE also fit caiuides better than tauvina . This fish is, therefore, regarded as E. caioides .

Dr. BEN-TUVIA has kindly sent the author a specimen of E. coioides (HUJ 10751) that was collected in Haifa Bay in October of 1981.

REMARKS

E. coioides is known from continental shores and large islands. It is often found in estuaries, and is also taken offshore to depths of 100 m. As implied by numerous recent misiclentifications, E. coioides is often mistaken for E. malabaricus ( BLOCH & SCHNEIDER, 1801) and E. tauvina ( FORSSkAL, 1775). The colour patterns of all 3 species are similar, but the dark spots of E. malabaricus are smaller, blackish-brown (not reddish-brown or brownish-orange, as on coioides ) and remain distinct in preservative; malabaricus also has irregular white spots on the head and body (no white spots on wioides). E. tauvina often has a black blotch (larger than eye) on body at base of last 4 dorsal fin spines and extending onto lower part of fin, and juveniles have the dark spots on the median fins so closely set that the pale interspaces appear as a pale reticulum; E. tauvina also has a longer jaw (upper jaw length 21 -24% SL, versus 17-20 % in coioides), usually more gill-rakers (17-20 on lower limb, versus 14- 17 in coioides ), and no small bony platelets on lateral side of lst gill arch.

MATERIAL EXAMINED

MEDITERRANEAN: ISRAEL (Haifa Bay): HUJ 10751 (221 mm.) KENYA: RUSI 10929 (166 mm.), 11463 (266 mm.). TANZANIA: RUSI 13028 (343 mm.), RUSI 15911 (125 mm.), RUSI 15912 (4, 164- 224 mm.), RUSI 16433 (130), RUSI 18020 (190 mm.). MOZAMBIQUE; 600 m., not preserved; RUSI 10811 (189 mm.). SOUTH AFRICA ( Natal ): 517 mm., not preserved; RUSI 12930 (335 mm.), RUSI 28136 (194mm). INDIA: MNHN 72/88 (109 mm.), syntype of Serranus suillus ; RUSI 11379 (2, 105- 136 mm.) RUSI 11407 (136 mm.), RUSI 11408 (3, 180- 218 mm.), RUSI 11410 (207 mm.), RUSI 11413 (192 mm.), RUSI 26040 (6, 97-122 mm). GULF OF THAILAND: CAS 61600 (196 mm.). AUSTRALIA: USNM 174317 (380 mm.), RUSI 30139 (3, 140- 216 mm.). LOCALITY UNKNOWN: MNHN 7421 , dry specimen, holotype of Serranus nebulosus .

Figures

Fig. 7 - Epinephelus coioides, 33 cm. SL, Persian Gulf, from photograph of J. E. RANDALL.

Fig. 3 - Cephalopholis taeniops, 16 cm. SL, Sénégal, from STEINDACHNER, 1882.