Les scorpaenidae de l'Atlantique et de la méditerranée. première note. le genre scorpaena

The Atlantic and Mediterranean members of the scorpaenidae family have always triggered numerous discussions about their reciprocious congenialities. Back in the (recent) days when the number of species known on the French coasts was still fairly low, the belonging of one species to such or such genus, as Helicolenus (Sebastes) dactylopterus DELAROCHE or Scorpaena maderensis Cuvier and Valenciennes, has been the subject of numerous articles of which the authors' conclusions might differ from one another, and even today light is still far from being shed on those topics. The difficulties met in the determination of scorpaenidae: similar general appearance, subtle differences, impossibility of comparing the samples with the types, incomplete or misinterpreted descriptions, have lead scientists to make hasty determinations resulting in: an even more complicated synonymy and incorrect data about the biogeography of the species. Thereby, the rockfish named Scorpaena rubellio by JORDAN and GUNN (I) is considered as a synonymous of S. maderensis Cuvier Valenciennes by J. R. NORMAN (2), and of S. porcus Linné by H. W. FOWLER (3). Likewise, the dispersion area of S. scrofa in Guinea, Niger and Sainte-Hélène, is caused by its confusion with other species such as S. stephanica, S. angolensis and S. scrofina. (unverified OCR)