Cephalopholis, BLOCH & SCHNEIDER, 1801

Heemstra, P. C., 1991, A Taxonomic Revision Of The Eastern Atlantic Groupers (Pisces: Serranidae), Bol. Mus. Mun. Funchal 43 (226), pp. 5-71 : 9-10

Genus CEPHALOPHOLIS BLOCH & SCHNEIDER, 1801

Cephalopholis BLOCH & SCHNEIDER, 1801: 311 (type-species, Cephalopholis argus BLOCH & SCHNEIDER, 1801 by monotypy).

Enneacentrus GILL, 1865: 105 (type-species, Serranus ouatalibi VALENCIENNES, 1828 [= Cephalopholis fulva ] by original designation.

Petrometopon GILL, 1865 ' 105 (type-species, " Serranus guttatus POEY " [an unpublished species description presumably taken from a POEY manuscript and apparently based on Perca guttatus (non LINNAEUS): BLOCH, 1792 = Cephalopholis cruentata ] by original designation).

Diagnosis: Body oblong, robust, not strongly compressed, the depth contained 2.0-3.2 times in SL, the body width contained 1.9-2.6 times in the depth; head length 2.2-3.1 in SL; dorsal head profile convex or concave, the interorbital area flat to slightly convex, preorbital depth less than eye diameter, contained 8- 13 times in head length; preopercle rounded, finely serrate, but without enlarged serrae at the "corner" and no antrorse spines on lower edge; ventral edge of interopercle may be finely serrate posteriorly, but there is no broad indentation; upper edge of operculum distinctly convex; anterior and posterior nostrils subequal. Dorsal fin with 9 spines and 13 - 17 rays, the fin membranes distinctly incised between the spines; no dorsal fin spines or rays elongated; anal fin with 3 spines and 7- 10 rays; caudal fin rounded or convex posteriorly, with 8 + 7 branched rays and 6-9 + 6-9 procurrent rays; soft dorsal and anal fins rounded; pectoral fins symmetrically rounded, the middle rays longest. Midlateral body scales ctenoid. Jaws with small canines at the front; teeth present on palatines; maxilla of adults with a distinct bony knob on the ventroposterior corner; supramaxilla well developed.

Supraneural bones 2, the posterior one straight or curved posteriorly, much smaller than the first one and situated just anterior to or above tip of second neural spine; dorsal fin with the last 4-7 pterygiophores trisegmental; anal fin with 3 -5 trisegmental pterygiophores; rear edge of first dorsal fin pterygiophore slightly to deeply excavated for tip of third neural spine; epipleural ribs on first 9 or 10 vertebrae.

Cranium distinctly narrowed at interorbital region, the least interorbital width subequal to the vomer width and half or less than half of the width at lateral ethmoids; frontals separated anteriorly by the supraethmoid; no median crest on frontals; medial and lateral processes of epiotics subequal; parasphenoid straight or nearly so.

GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION

The genus is represented in all three major oceans, including both sides of the Atlantic, but it has not yet been found in the Mediterranean Sea.

REMARKS

JORDAN and EVERMANN (1905) resurrected the genus Cephalopholis from the synonymy of Epinephelus (= " Serranus ") where it had lain dormant since its original description by BLOCH and SCHNEIDER in 1801. Cephalopholis was widely used as a valid genus until C.L. SMITH (1971) demoted it to subgeneric status, but in subsequent publications ( SMITH, 1978, 1981) he again recognized Cephalopholis as a valid genus. Recognition of Cephalopholis as either a genus or subgenus is a moot point, and (as pointed out by SMITH-VANIZ et al., 1988) the monophyly of this genus has yet to be demonstrated. Nevertheless, Cephalopholis is a convenient taxon that is readily separable from other genera of groupers. Species of Cephalopholis have only 9 dorsal fin spines. whereas species of Alphestes , Dermatolepis , Mycteroperca , Triso and Epinephelus have 11 dorsal fin spines (except for 3 species of Epinephelus which have 10 dorsal spines and E. acanthistius ( GILBERT, 1892) of the eastern Pacific which has only 9 dorsal spines).

Another useful generic character separating Cephalopholis and Epinephelus may be the presence of 3 -6 trisegmental pterygiophores in the dorsal fin of Cephalopholis species (radiographs of 21 species examined). Whereas, all of the Epinephelus that were x-rayed (48 spp) lack trisegmental pterygiophores (the middle piece being fused with the proximal element).

Although only a few larvae of each genus are known, LEIS (1986) has found that preflexion larvae of at least 6 species of Cephalopholis have a ventral series of 15- 23 small melanophores on the tail. In postflexion larvae, the ventral melanophores are reduced to 1 -4 and shift to a mid-lateral position on the peduncle. By contrast, Epinephelus preflexion larvae of at least 7 species have a single large ventral melanophore on the tail, and this shifts to the mid-lateral position on the peduncle in postflexion larvae.

SMITH-VANIZ et al. (1988) compared Cephalopholis with the two other epinepheline genera with 9 dorsal fin spines ( Gracila and Aethaloperca , which occur in the Indo-Pacific region). This matter will also be discussed by HEEMSTRA and RANDALL (in press).

The genus Cephalopholis comprises 22 species: two in the western Atlantic, two in the eastern Atlantic ( nigri & taeniops ), one in the eastern Pacific and 17 in the Indo-Pacific region. Only the eastern Atlantic species are treated in the present paper; the other species are discussed by RANDALL and HEEMSTRA (in press) and HEEM STRA and RANDALL (in press).