Madeira Canary Islands Azores – Fishes Dr. Peter Wirtz

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Comb grouper (Mycteroperca fusca)
Up to 85 cm long. Madeira, Canary Islands, Azores. 10 – 100 m depth.
The large photo on the right shows the normal colour of the species, gray-brown with silvery spots or silvery
with gray-brown spots. Occasionally, however, one can encounter yellow individuals of this species. A yellow
colour in fish that usually look different („xanthochromism“) is as common in fish as is the exceptional black
colour of many mammals („melanism“). The animal shown below can be recognized individually by its white
spots (see also the title picture, by Pedro Monteiro). During more than 20 years, we could observe that this
individual left the bay of Garajau, Madeira, around April and returned the following September or October. It
is, of course, known, that many fish species perform annual migrations but it was not known that an individual
fish returns to the same place every year, like a migratory bird. Photos Peter Wirtz.
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Blacktail comber (Serranus atricauda)
Up to 35 cm long. Madeira, Canary Islands, Azores. 3 – 100 m depth.
All Serranus species are simultaneous hermaphrodites, i. e. they are male and female at the same time. The
Blacktail comber is one of the most common shore fish in the area. These highly intelligent fish are quite
inquisitive. Juveniles may have a striped colour pattern (insert). Photos Peter Wirtz.
Comber (Serranus cabrilla)
Up to 35 cm long. Madeira, Canary Islands, Azores. 3 – 500 m depth.