• Skip to main content
  • Français
Press
  • Home
  • Institute
    • Mediterranean species
      Annular seabream
      Axinella sponge
      Black scorpionfish
      Black seabream
      Black sea cucumber
      Black sea urchin
      Blacktailed wrasse
      Blotched picarel
      • About
      • › In brief
      • › Global advocacy
      • › 50+ years of history
      • The Team
      • › Organisation
      • The Aquarium
      • › About the aquarium
      • › Practical information
      • › Mediterranean species
      • › Mediterranean biotopes
      • A site in nature
      • › Les Embiez island
      • The Association
      • › Board of directors
      • › Honorary committee
      • › Become a member
  • Research
    • Research Programmes
      LIFE Pinnarca
      MaCoBios
      Posidonia oceanica seagrass m [...]
      New Innovative Feed for Susta [...]
      Environmental DNA (eDNA)
      Ich.T.O.
      Podestat
      Integrated multi-trophic aqua [...]
      • › Research programmes
      • › Research Center
      • › Scientific Communication
      • › International Cooperation
      • › Take OFF, Take Ocean For Future
  • Outreach
    • Environmental issues
      Climate
      Biodiversity
      Nature-based solutions
      Living resources
      Governance
      The Mediterranean, a model ocean
      • › Popular science
      • › Newsletter
      • › Media Library
      • › Press review
      • › Environmental issues
 › Abécédaire › Painted comber
Mediterranean species :

Painted comber

It looks as if its head has been painted.
Did you know ?
Like the brown comber, the painted comber is one of the few fish species that are both sexes at once. This is called simultaneous hermaphroditism.

This beautiful fish can be identified by its purplish-blue stomach and what look like fine, painted blue and red lines on its cheeks, hence its name. Its yellowish-red body has 5 to 7 dark brown vertical stripes. It is very solitary and actively defends a territory of a few square metres. It feeds on crustaceans and fish and can grow to 36 cm long. It lives in Posidonia seagrass meadows and on rocky bottoms down to 150m below the surface. It is found in the Mediterranean, the Black Sea and in the Atlantic from south of the British Isles to Senegal.

Tweet
Share
Share
0 Shares

Phylum: Vertebrates
Class: Osteichthyes
Order: Perciformes
Family: Serranidae
Scientific name: Serranus scriba

French: Serran écriture
Spanish: Serrano
Italian: Sciarrano scrittura
German: Schriftbarsch

Pandora Prev
Ornate wrasse Next
Institut océanographique Paul Ricard
Île des Embiez - 83140 Six-Fours-les-Plages
Tél. +33 (0)4 94 34 02 49
  • › Partners
  • › Press
  • › Sitemap
  • › Terms & Conditions
  • › Privacy Policy
  • › Cookies Policy
  • › Credits