Petrus rupestris
No common name
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Sparidae (Porgies)
Petrus
Petrus rupestris
Description
This species account was compiled from
FishBase (Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2025. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version 04/2025.)
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Characters
Body shape: fusiform / normal. Reddish, bronzy or golden-yellow in color; young with a blotch behind dorsal fin.
Distribution
Southeast Atlantic: Mossel Bay to Natal in South Africa.
Habitat Associations
Brackish, marine. demersal. Found in: estuaries.
Biology
Found near rocky banks in coastal waters including estuaries. Adults solitary and territorial. Feeds on octopus, crabs and fish, especially Spondyliosoma. The flesh is highly esteemed, but the liver is poisonous due to high vitamin A content which causes hypervitaminosis. Popular angling fish. Largest of the porgies.
Max length: 200.0 cm TL; common length: 100.0 cm TL; max weight: 80000 g.
IUCN Red List Status: Endangered (EN), assessed 2009-12-03. Resilience: Low (K=0.08; tm=5-7; tmax=30;).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: minor commercial; gamefish.
References
Smith, J.L.B. and M.M. Smith (1986) Sparidae. p. 580-594. In M.M. Smith and P.C. Heemstra (eds.) Smiths' sea fishes. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
van der Elst, R.P. and F. Adkin (eds.) (1991) Marine linefish: priority species and research objectives in southern Africa. Oceanogr. Res. Inst., Spec. Publ. No.1. 132 p.
Comments On Petrus rupestris