Epinephelus marginatus (Lowe, 1834)

González-Lorenzo, J. Gustavo, González-Jiménez, José F. & González, José A., 2021, Review of the family Serranidae (Perciformes) from the Canary Islands (eastern-central Atlantic), with the first records of Serranus hepatus and Epinephelus aeneus, Cybium 45 (2), pp. 141-154 : 148

Epinephelus marginatus (Lowe, 1834)

– Dusky grouper

Serranus fimbriatus : Valenciennes, 1843: 8 (C).

Serranus gigas : Steindachner, 1867: 613-615 (T); Vinciguerra, 1883: 609 (T), 1893: 303-304 (T).

Gadus monopterigius cirratus : Viera y Clavijo, 1868 (1982): 282 (C).

Epinephelus gigas : Cadenat, 1935: 400 (in synonyms).

Serranus guaza : Fowler, 1936: 760-762 (C).

Epinephelus guaza : Jordan and Gunn, 1899: 341 (C); Dooley et al., 1985: 16 (C); Pizarro, 1985: 85 (F); Brito, 1991: 103, 112 (C); González-Jiménez et al., 1994: 78-79 (C).

Epinephelus marginatus : Franquet and Brito, 1995: 66 (C); Brito et al., 2002: 216, 232 (C); González et al., 2012: 144-145 (C); Báez et al., 2019: suppl. tab. (C); Freitas et al., 2019: suppl. tab. S3 (C).

An amphi-Atlantic and western Indian Ocean species with warm affinity. Western Indian Ocean: from southern Mozambique and Madagascar to South Africa, and recently recorded from Réunion Island (vagrant) ( Reid et al., 2016) and Arabian Sea ( Oman), but absent from surrounding areas ( Béarez et al., 2020). Western Atlantic: from southern Brazil to Argentina. Eastern Atlantic: throughout the Mediterranean Sea and from the northern Bay of Biscay (Brittany) to Morocco ( Collignon, 1973 – frequent) and southwards to Angola, including the Azores, Madeira, Selvagens, Canary and Cabo Verde Islands; stray specimens reported from the British Isles, and eastern English Channel (Normandy, France) ( Heemstra and Anderson, 2016; Freitas et al., 2019; Froese and Pauly, 2020).

It is a common species native to the Canary Islands, living between the coastline and 200 m of depth; juveniles frequently inhabit intertidal pools ( Brito, 1991; Brito et al., 2002; González et al., 2020). Reported maximum size: to 160 cm TL and 60 kg ( González et al., 2012). Spanish vernacular names: mero. In the region, it is an important fishery resource exploited all year round by domestic small-scale fisheries with hook-and-line, traps, and trammel nets. Its landings seem to be stabilized around a mean of 33.3 t /y in the period of 2014-2019, with a peak of 37.3 t in 2017 ( González et al., 2020). It is also subject to some recreational fishing activity ( González et al., 2012).