Pagellus bellottii Steindachner, 1882

Edwards, A. J., Gill, A. C. & Abohweyere, P. O., 2003, A revision of F. R. Irvine’s Ghanaian marine fishes in the collections of The Natural History Museum, London, Journal of Natural History 37 (18), pp. 2213-2267 : 2246

Pagellus bellottii Steindachner, 1882

Irvine name. Pagellus erythrinus (Linnaeus) . Misidentification.

Reference material. Kormantin, May 1930 (Irvine 99)— BMNH 1930.8 .26.83 (one: 165 mm SL).? Prampram, July 1938 (Irvine 275)— BMNH 1938.12 .15.19 (one: 164 mm SL), BMNH 2001.5 .2.27 (one: 150 mm SL) .

Distribution. Coast of West Africa from Morocco to Angola. Also recorded from the southwestern Mediterranean (Quéro et al., 1990).

On average about 7000 tonnes of this species are caught in the region each year ( FAO, 2000), making it an important fishery species.

Irvine noted ‘A specimen from Prampram, July 1938 (Irvine 275), was identified by the British Museum authorities as Pagellus sp. This seemed to be different from P. erythrinus , and somewhat resembled Dentex cuninghami ’. Irvine was correct in this as Dentex cuninghamii Regan, 1905 (H  : BMNH 1905.2.24.6, 191.7 mm SL, coast of Angola) is a junior synonym of Pagellus bellottii Steindachner (Quéro et al., 1990).