Relevant synonyms Scorpaena echinata* Misidentification Sebastes kuhlii Meristic formula D, XI-XII+8-10; A, II-III+5-6; P, 20-23; V, I+5; LL, 57-67; GR, 18 * Note: Goode and Bean (1896) separated the western Atlantic population from the eastern Atlantic population, designating the western population as a subspecies, T. cristulata cristulata and T. cristulata echinata for the eastern Atlantic population. Some authors (e.g. Maurin, 1962) elevated the eastern population to a specific level, while other authors ignored the division for subspecies.  photo : Inaki Franco

SHORT DESCRIPTION Body robust with large head, prominent sub-orbital ridge with well-developed spines, and large orbit (11-16% of SL), its diameter larger than snout length. Head with strongly developed spines on top and with small flaps. Occipital pit absent. Palatine and vomerine teeth present. Ctenoid scales on body, inter-orbital area, cheek, maxilla, pectoral fin base and chest. Pectoral fin slightly bilobed, with the upper rays longer than the lower rays. color : red, with dusky pigment on the back and the sides and black shaded areas on the fins (between spines 5 and 11 of dorsal fin) and the operculum. Black peritoneum. size : common 15 - 45 cm (max. 55 cm). DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS Helicolenus dactylopterus: dorsal fin with 11-13 rays (8-9 in T. c. echinata); head with moderately developed spines on top and without flaps. Pontinus kuhlii: all pectoral finrays unbranched. Other Scorpaena spp.: pectoral fin rounded, with fewer than 20 rays, the longest ray at about the middle of the fin. BIOLOGY / ECOLOGY Deep-bottom fish. Probably oviparous, with eggs extruded in floating gelatinous masses. Feeds on deep-sea benthic crustaceans, cephalopods and fishes. habitat : benthic on muddy or sandy substrates, between 200 and 2500 m.

1st MEDITERRANEAN RECORD Moroccan coast near the Strait of Gibraltar, 1962. DISTRIBUTION Worldwide : Eastern Atlantic, from Ireland southward to Angola and Namibia. Mediterranean : recorded first as Trachyscorpia cristulata, in Moroccan coast near the Strait of Gibraltar (Maurin, 1962). Successively recorded in the Alboran Sea (Crespo et al., 1976), Balearic Islands (Massutí et al., 1993) and Sentinelle Bank, (central Mediterranean) (Ragonese and Giusto, 1999). ESTABLISHMENT SUCCESS Rare. speculated reasons for success : - MODE OF INTRODUCTION Via Gibraltar. IMPORTANCE TO HUMANS In the Atlantic, it is the target species of a trawl fishery recently developed in deep waters on the continental slope on the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula (Piñeiro et al., 1997).

KEY REFERENCES Crespo J., Rey J.C. and Camiñas J.A., 1976. Trachyrhynchus trachyrhynchus (Risso, 1819) del mer de Alborán (región surmediterránea). Pesca y rendimiento. Areas de distribución. Biología y biometría. Boletin del Instituto Espanol de Oceanografia, 218: 21 pp. Massutí E., Reñones O. and Carbonell A., 1993. A propos de la présence de Trachyscorpia cristulata echinata (Koehler, 1896) en Méditerranée nord-occidentale. Cybium, 17: 223-228. Maurin C., 1962. Etude des fonds chalutables de la Méditerranée occidentale. (Ecologie et Pêche). Résultats des campagnes des navires océanographiques "Président-Théodore-Tissier" 1957 et 1960 et "Thalassa" 1960 et 1961. Revue des Travaux de l'Institut des Pêches maritimes, 26(2): 163-218. Ragonese S. and Giusto G., 1999. Range extension for Trachyscorpia cristulata echinata (Pisces, Scorpaenidae) in the Central Mediterranean Sea. Bulletin of Marine Science, 64: 329-334. FEEDBACK / COMMENTS TO AUTHORS

Last update of the species sheet: April 2002 ©ciesm 2002