Serranus cabrilla (Linnaeus, 1758)

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 : 143

Serranus cabrilla (Linnaeus, 1758)

– Comber

Serranus cabrilla : Valenciennes, 1842: 7 (C); Steindachner, 1865: 399 (T), 1867: 611 (T); Vinciguerra, 1883: 609 (L), 1890: 469 (GC), 1893: 303 (GC); Cadenat, 1935: 386-387 (C); Santaella et al., 1975: 21 (LP); Brito, 1991: 104 (C); Dooley et al., 1985: 15 (C); Pizarro, 1985: 82 (F); González-Jiménez et al., 1994: 84 (C); Franquet and Brito, 1995: 67 (C); Brito et al., 2002: 217, 235 (C); González et al., 2012: 140-141 (C); Báez et al., 2019: suppl. tab. (C); Freitas et al., 2019: suppl. tab. S3 (C).

Perca cabrilla : Viera y Clavijo, 1868 (1982): 92 (C).

Serranus (Pseudoserranus) cabrilla : Steindachner, 1891: 349-350 (T).

Paracentropristis cabrilla : Fowler, 1936: 768-769 (T, GC).

An eastern Atlantic warm-temperate species, distributed from the English Channel to Morocco ( Cadenat, 1935; Collignon, 1973 – very common) and southwards to Cape of Good Hope (and spilling over to Natal), South Africa, including the Azores, Madeira, Canary and Cabo Verde Islands; also known from the Mediterranean and western Black Seas ( Heemstra and Anderson, 2016; Freitas et al., 2019; Froese and Pauly, 2020). It was also reported from the Red Sea (immigrant from the Mediterranean Sea) ( Parenti and Randall, 2020). However, South African records ( South Africa north to KwaZulu-Natal, Fricke et al., 2020b) of this species appear to be misidentifications of Serranus knysnaensis Gilchrist, 1904 , which is endemic to southern Africa ( Heemstra and Anderson, 2016).

It is a common native species in the Canary Islands, spread throughout the archipelago, but absent from El Hierro – the westernmost island in the archipelago, with warmer littoral waters. It inhabits from 5 to 350 m depth, mainly down to 50 m ( Brito et al., 2002). Reported maximum size: to 45 cm TL and 1.0 kg ( González et al., 2012); common to 28 cm TL. Spanish vernacular names: cabrilla reina; cabrilla de fuera; cabrilla melera. Exploitation by local artisanal fisheries: as in the previous species ( González et al., 2020). Its landings seem to have stabilized near 20 tons a year (t/y) in the period of 2014-2019. This resource is also subject to some recreational fishing activity.