| Caesar grunt | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Acanthuriformes |
| Family: | Haemulidae |
| Genus: | Haemulon |
| Species: | H. carbonarium |
| Binomial name | |
| Haemulon carbonarium Poey, 1860 | |
TheCaesar grunt (Haemulon carbonarium), also known as theblack grunt,blacktail grunt, orredmouth grunt is aspecies of marineray-finned fish, a grunt in thefamilyHaemulidae. It is native to the westernAtlantic Ocean.
The Caesar grunt has an oblong, compressed body with a deep, blunt-snouted head. The moderately sized mouth is horizontal and does not have very fleshy lips. It has a continuousdorsal fin, which has a slight notch at its centre. The base of soft-rayed part of the dorsal fin and of theanal fin are scaled.[2] The dorsal fin contains 12 spines and 15-16 soft rays while the anal fin has tree spines and eight soft rays.[3] The overall colour is silvery white broken by longitudinal orange-brown stripes, these are broader and more obvious above thelateral line. Also, they have a black spot at the base of theircaudal fin, which is characteristic of this species. The anal,pectoral, andpelvic fins are transparent, while the caudal fin is dark. The dorsal fin is also transparent, but it has an orange-brown margin on the spiny part, while the soft-rayed part has a dark margin. The head is marked with bronze-yellow stripes and spots. The flesh on the inside of the mouth is orange.[4] This species attains a maximum total length of 36 cm (14 in), although 20 cm (7.9 in) is more typical.[3]
The Caesar grunt is found in the western Atlantic Ocean. It is distributed fromCape Canaveral inFlorida andBermuda in the north southwards through the Bahamas, to theGulf of Mexico including theFlorida Keys, theFlorida Middle Grounds, along the mainland coast fromTuxpan in Mexico along the northern coast of theYucatan Peninsula to northwestern Cuba, and throughout theCaribbean Sea. Claims from Brazil are likely to be misidentifications.[1]
The Caesar grunt is found at depths from 2 to 30 m (6 ft 7 in to 98 ft 5 in).[1] This species is found in clear water on rocky or coral reefs and in mangroves.[5] They are social Fish which form schools, feeding nocturnally on benthic invertebrates such ascrabs,gastropods,starfish andpolychaetes.[4] Caesar grunts are oviparous, forming distinct pairs to spawn and have pelagic larvae.[3]
The Caesar grunt was first formally described in 1860 by theCubanzoologist Felipe Poey (1799–1891) with the type locality given asHavana.[6] The specific namecarbonarius means "coal-like", a reference to its Cuban Spanish vernacular name ofRonco carbonero, named for its dark fins.[7]
The Caesar grunt is targeted by commercial fisheries in some parts of its range, it is also caught for theaquarium trade.[1] They are caught using traps, hook-and-line, andseines, but catch statistics are not collected. They are mainly sold fresh.[8]
