Author: (Schneider, 1801)

Polyprion americanus (Schneider, 1801)

Diagnosis: body rather deep and robust; head large with a rough bony ridge across upper part of opercle. D XI + 11-12, A III + 8-10; pelvic fins longer than pectoral fins. Scales very rough, 90-114 in lateral line. Colour: brown or bluish-grey; juveniles with irregular light and dark marblings, more or less disappearing with age. Size: to 2 m SL.

Habitat: above rocky and muddy/sandy bottoms, at 40-450 m, chiefly at 100-200 m, said to reach 1,000 m. Adults solitary and benthic; young somewhat gregarious, epipelagic, often below floating wreckage. Food: crustaceans and molluscs, also fishes. Reproduction: during the summer (Mediterranean).

Distribution: eastern Atlantic northward to Norway and Mediterranean. Elsewhere, in eastern Atlantic, the Canaries, the Cape Verde Is., Tristan da Cunha and African coasts southward to southern Angola; probably South Africa (Cape to Natal); in western Atlantic, Newfoundland to north-eastern United States; reported from Argentina (rare).

Eggs, larvae and young stages. Bertolini, 1933: 314, pl. 21 (fig. 15-21) | Sparta, 1939: 1-9, 9 fig.
Otoliths (sagitta). Sanz Echeverría, 1931: 372, pl. 2 (fig. 10) | Chaine, 1935: 96, pl. 7.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Subphylum Vertebrata
Superclass Gnathostomata
Class Osteichthyes
Order Perciformes
Suborder Percoidei
Family Serranidae
Genus Polyprion
Species Polyprion americanus

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Polyprion americanus (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)

Scientific synonyms and common names

Polyprion americanus (Schneider, 1801)

Synonyms:

Amphiprion americanus Schneider, 1801, in Blochii Syst. Ichth.: 205 ('America').
Amphiprion australe Schneider, 1801, in Blochii Syst. Ichth.: pl. 47.
Polyprion cernium Valenciennes, 1824, Mem. Mus. Hist. nat., Paris, 11: 265, pl. 17 (France). Syntypes: MNHN no. 7541, ? 7427.
Polyprion massiliense O. G. Costa, 1829, Fauna Regno Napoli, 1:1, pl. 1 (Southern Italy).
Polyprion americanus [-um]: Costa, 1829: 1 Boulenger, 1895: 148, fig. 12 Nobre, 1935: 13, pl. 2 (fig. 5) Cadenat, 1935: 382, fig. 1 Fowler, 1936, 2: 744, fig. 330 Lozano Rey, 1952: 118, pl. 7 (fig. 2) Dieuzeide et al., 1954: 187, fig. Bini, 1968: 63, fig. Wheeler, 1969: 314, fig. 203, map.
Polyprion cernium: Günther, 1859, 1:169 Day, 1880: 17, pl. 6 Moreau, 1881, 2: 349, fig. 120 Doderlein, 1889: 88 Soljan, 1963: 158, fig. 343.


Common names:

cernia di fondo [It]
cernier commun [Fr]
cernier [Fr]
cherna [Es]
cherne [Pr]
dott [Mlt]
iskorpithanisi [Tu]
kirnja glavulja [Hr]
lucerna [It]
mennen [Ar]
mérot gris [Fr]
reuzenbaars [Ne]
steenbaars [Ne]
stone bass [En]
vlachos [He]
vragfisk [Da]
vragfisk [No]
wrackbarsch [De]
wrek fish [En]

Bertolini, F. 1933. Apogonidae, Serranidae. In: Uova, larve e stadi giovanili di Teleostei. Fauna Flora Golfo Napoli, 38: pp. 306-331, fig. 245-256, pl. XV, pl. XIX-XXI.

Bini, G. 1967-1972. Atlante dei pesci delle Coste italiane. Mondo Sommerso, Milano, 9 vol: I, 1967, Leptocardi, Ciclostomi, Selaci, 206 pp., 66 fig. + 64 col. fig. II, 1971, Osteitti (Acipenseriformi, Clupeiformi, Mictofiformi, Anguilliformi), 300 pp., 73 col. fig. III, 1970, Notacantiformi . . . Zeiformi, 229 pp., 34 fig. + 63 col. fig. IV, 1968, Perciformi (Mugiloidei, Percoidei), 163 pp., 34 fig. + 49 col. fig. V, 1968, Perciformi (Percoidei), 175 pp., 22 fig. + 56 col. fig. VI, 1968, Perciformi (Trichiuroidei . . . Blennioidei), 177 pp., 48 fig + 57 col. fig. VII,1969, Perciformi (Ofidioidei . . . Dactilopteroidei), 196 pp., 57 fig. + 59 col. fig. VIII,1968, Pleuronettiformi, Echeniformi, Gobioesociformi, Tetraodontiformi, Lofiformi, 164 pp., 34 + 63 fig. IX, 1972, Introduzione. Parte generale. Aggiornamenti. Indici. 176 p.

Bloch, M. E.; Schneider, J. G. 1801. M. E. Blochii Systema Ichthyologiae iconibus cx illustratum. Post obitum auctoris opus inchoatum absolvit, correxit, interpolavit J. G. Schneider, Saxo. Berolini: Ix+584 pp., 110 pl.

Boulenger, G. A. 1895. Catalogue of the Perciform fishes in the British Museum, 1, 391 pp., 15 pl.

Cadenat, J. 1935. Les Serranidés de la Côte occidentale d'Afrique (du Cap Spartel au Cap Vert). Rev. Trav. Off. (scient. tech.) Pêch. marit., 8 (4): pp. 377-422, 30 fig.

Chaine, J. 1935. Recherches sur les otolithes des Poissons. Étude descriptive et comparative de la sagitta des Téléostéens. Act. Soc. linn. Bordeaux, 87: 1-242,18 pl.

Costa, O. G. 1829-1857. Fauna del regno di Napoli, ossia enumerazione di tutti gli animali, Pesci, 3 pts, 70 fasc. Part. 1, 1829-1853, 511 pp., 60 pl.; Part 2, 1842-1853, 148 pp., 69 pl.; Part 3, 1837-1857, 101 pp., 17 pl. (For publications dates see Sherborn, 1937, J. Soc. Biblphy nat. Hist., 1(2): 35.)

Day, F. 1880-1884. The Fishes of Great Britain and Ireland. London-Edinburgh, 2 vol., cxii+336 pp., 5 +7 fig., 92 pl. and 388 pp., 87 pl. 1880: 1(1): pp. 1-64, pl. I-XXVII; 1881: 1(2) (3): pp. 65-240, pl. XXVIII-LXVIII; 1882: 1(4): pp. 241-336, pl. LXIX-XCII; 2 (5): pp. 1-96, pl. XCIII-CXVI; 1883: 2 (6): pp. 97-176, pl. CXVII-CXXXII; 2 (7): pp. 177-272, pl. CXXXIII-CXLVIII; 1884: 2 (8): pp. 273-368, pl. CXLIX-CLXXIX.

Dieuzeide, R.; Novella, M. (collab. J. Roland), 1953-1955. Catalogue des Poissons des Côtes algériennes. Bull. Stn Aquic. Pêch. Castiglione, I (n.s.), (4), 1952 [1953]: pp. 1-135, 73 fig. n. num.; II (n.s.), (5), 1953 [1954]: pp. 1-258, 135 fig. n. num.; III (n.s.), (6), 1954 [1955]: pp. 1-384, 202 fig. n. num.

Döderlein, P. 1879-1891. Manuale Ittiologico del Mediterraneo ossia senossi metodica delle varie specie di pesci riscontrate sin qui nel Mediterraneo ed in particolare nei mari di Sicilia. Palermo, 1879-1891 (on title: '1879-1880') 5 parts: I, 1879: viii+67 pp.; II, 1881: pp. 1-120; III, 1884: pp. 121-258; IV, 1889: pp. 1-188; V, 1891: pp. 189-320.

Fowler, H. W. 1936. The Marine Fishes of West Africa, based on the collection of the American Museum Congo Expedition 1909-1915. Bull. am. Mus. nat. Hist., 70 (1), Jan. 21, 1936: pp. vii+1-606, fig. 1-275; (2), Nov. 18, 1936: pp. 607-1493, fig. 276-567.

Günther, A. 1859. Catalogue of the Acanthopterygian fishes in the collection of the British Museum. 1. Gasterosteidae, Berycidae, Percidae, Aphredoderidae, Pristipomatidae, Mullidae, Sparidae. London, pp. xxxi+524.

Lozano y Rey, L. 1952. Peces fisoclistos, Subserie Toracicos. Mems R. Acad. Cienc. exact. fis. nat. Madr., ser.: Cien. nat., Primate parte, 14: pp. xv+1-378, fig. 1-20, pl. I-XXX; Segunda parte, 14: pp. 379-705, fig. 21-31, pl. XXI-LI.

Moreau, E. 1881-1891. Histoire naturelle des poissons de la France, Paris, I, 1881: pp. I-VII+1-480, fig. 1-82; II, 1881: pp. 1-572, fig. 83-145; III, 1881: pp. 1-697, fig. 146-220; Suppl., 1891: pp. 1-144, fig. 221-227.

Nobre, A. 1935. Fauna marinha de Portugal. 1. Vertebrados (Mamiferos, Reptis e Peixes), Porto.: pp. Ixxxiv+1-21 (Mamiferos); pp. 1-5 (Reptis); pp. 1-574 (Peixes), pl. 1-77, phot. 1-64.

Sanz Echeverria, J. 1931. Investigaciones sobre otolitos de peces de España. Boln R. Soc. esp. Hist. nat., 31: pp. 369-374, 1 pl.

Soljan, T. 1963. Fishes of the Adriatic (Ribe Jadrana). Fauna et flora adriatica 1 (revised and enlarged for the English edition), 428 pp., many unnumbered fig.

Spartà, A. 1939c. Contributo alla conoscenza dello sviluppo embrionale e post-embrionale nei Murenoidi. 6. Ophisurus serpens (L.). Memorie R. Com talassogr. ital., 267: 1-12, 8 fig.

Spartà, A. 1939d. Uova, stadi embrionali e post-embrionali di Polyprion cernium (Val.). Memorie R. Com. talassogr. ital., 259: 10 p., 9 fig.

Valenciennes, A. 1824. Description du Cernié, Polyprion cernium. Mém. Mus. natn. Hist. nat., Paris, 11: 265-269, pl. 17.

Wheeler, A. 1969. The Fishes of the British Isles and North-West Europe. Macmillan, London, Melbourne and Toronto: pp. i-xvii+1-163, 5+177 fig., 392 fig. (princ. sp.), 92 n. num. fig., 16 pl., maps.

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