Species: Haemulon carbonarium, Caesar Grunt

Haemulon carbonarium Poey, 1860

Caesar Grunt

Body oblong, compressed; body depth 36-39% of SL; head deep, blunt, its upper profile convex on nape then straight to mouth; rear margin of bone under eye concealed by scales; mouth small to moderate, lips not fleshy; underside of chin with 2 large pores and a central groove; preoperculum finely serrated, without spines; gill rakers 23-25; dorsal fin continuous, with small to moderate notch in middle, XII, 15-16; anal rays III, 8, 2nd and 3rd spines similar; tail forked; soft dorsal and anal densely scaled nearly to the edge of the fin; scales rough; scales over entire body and head except front of snout, lips and chin; pectoral fin scaled on base only; lateral-line scales 49-50; scale rows below lateral line ~horizontal to body axis; scales above and below lateral line about same size.

Adult: silvery grey, dusky to black on belly; head steel blue; head and body with ~10 thin coppery stripes; dorsal fin black with bronze on membranes between spines and on base of soft part; tail and anal fins black, the tail pale at rear, the anal bronze at rear; paired fins blackish; inside mouth red. Juvenile: 3 dark stripes: 1 from snout above eye to end of dorsal fin base, 1 from top of eye back along front ½ of lateral line (this often bronze, and lengthening with age), 1 from snout through eye along mid-side to near tail fin; a large, horizontal oval or cuadrangular black spot on tail fin base.

Size: attains 40 cm.

Habitat: on reefs and hard bottoms.

Depth: 2-52 m.

Bermuda to the southern Caribbean, also in Brazil.