Common Name
Caesar Grunt
Year Described
Poey, 1860
Identification
Dorsal Fin: XII, 15-16 (usually 15)
Anal Fin: III, 8
Gill Rakers: 23-25 (total on first arch)
Lateral Line Scales: 49-50
Preopercle not serrated. Soft dorsal and anal fins almost completely scaled. Scale rows under lateral line almost parallel to body axis. Scales above and below lateral line about equal in size.
Color
Body silvery blue with numerous thin horizontal golden stripes on the body and head. The stripes often break up into yellow spots on the head and become more brassy yellow ventrally (breaking up into spots on each scale center). The pectoral fin is pallid to dusky. The pelvic and anal fins are dusky with white anterior margins. The dorsal and caudal fins are dark to blackish with pale posterior margins.
Size
Common to 25cm TL. Maximum size to 40cm TL.
Habitat
Reef associated (rocky and coral), shallower than 30m. Often forms large schools near bottom.
Range
S. Florida to Brazil, including the S. Gulf of Mexico and the entire Caribbean Sea. Also Bermuda.
References
Lindeman, K.C. 2002. Haemulidae (pp. 1522-1550). In: Carpenter. 2002. The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Vol. 3: Bony fishes part 2 (Opistognathidae to Molidae). FAO Species Identification Guides for Fisheries Purposes. American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 5. FAO of the U.N., Rome.