The bigeye grunt, ''Brachydeuterus auritus'', is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of marine

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or h ...

, a grunt belonging to the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Haemulidae Haemulidae is a family of fishes in the order Perciformes known commonly as grunts. It is made up of the two subfamilies Haemulinae (grunters) and Plectorhynchinae (sweetlips), which in turn contain about 133 species in 19 genera. These fish ar ...

. It is native to the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

coast of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Description

The bigeye grunt has an oblong, somewhat compressed body with a large eye, a snoutwhich is shorter than the diameter of its eye and a large, protrusible mouth chin It has a deeply notched dorsal fin which contains 10-13 spines, with the 3rd spine (also occasionally the 4th) being the longest. The anal fin has 3 spines and 9-10, infrequently 8, soft rays. The caudal fin is deeply emarginate. The back is olive and the flanks and abdomen are silvery to white. There is a dark blotch on upper edge of the gill cover and there are small dark spots on the base of the dorsal fin, although these are not always present. This species attains a maximum total length of , although is more typical.

Distribution

The bigeye grunt is found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean where it occurs along the western coast of Africa from Morocco to Angola, although it is most common from Senegal south.

Habitat and biology

The bigeye grunt is found at depths between . It can be found on Sandy and muddy substrates, moving up the water column to feed near the surface during the night. It feeds on small fish and invertebrates. This species may

spawn Spawn or spawning may refer to: * Spawn (biology), the eggs and sperm of aquatic animals Arts, entertainment, and media * Spawn (character), a fictional character in the comic series of the same name and in the associated franchise ** '' Spawn: ...

throughout the year, becoming sexually mature at around 8 months old for males and 12 months for females, but there may be two peaks in spawning coinciding with the timing of

upwelling Upwelling is an oceanographic phenomenon that involves wind-driven motion of dense, cooler, and usually nutrient-rich water from deep water towards the ocean surface. It replaces the warmer and usually nutrient-depleted surface water. The nut ...

Systematics

The bigeye grunt was first formally described in 1832 as ''Larimus auritus'' by the French zoologist Achille Valenciennes 1794-1865) with the type locality given as Gorée in Senegal. It is the only species in the

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

''Brachydeuterus''. The generic name is a compound of ''brachy'' meaning “short” and ''deuterus'' meaning “second”, a reference to the lower Sony rayed part of the dorsal fin which is almost separated from the anterior spiny part by a deep notch. The specific name ''auritus'' means “eared” and is areference to the blotch on the gill cover.

Utilisation

The bigeye grunt is commercially important in many parts of West Africa, especially Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. They are caught using bottom trawls, gill nets, set nets and push seines. They are sold fresh, smoked it processed into fish meal. it has also been used to make dish crackers when it’s flesh is mixed with

cassava ''Manihot esculenta'', commonly called cassava (), manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively cultivated ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2291766 Haemulinae Fish described in 1832