Photos Peter Southwood	Comber or African Seabass Serranus knysnaensis The comber was described by Gilchrist in 1904. JLB Smith re-named it S. cabrilla, due to its similarity to a fish described by Linnaeus in 1758 from the Mediterranean. It has since been discovered that this is incorrect, that Gilchrist was correct, and the fish received its rightful name again. The comber's distribution is given as False Bay to Durban, but it is rare in False Bay. Some sightings along the eastern coastline, mainly of juveniles, showed that it does indeed occur here. The fish shown was photographed in a dark crevice, at Batsata, just south of Smitswinkel Bay. Seen at about 12 to 15m depth, it was 15 cm long (about half the maximum size attained.)
References: Coastal Fishes of Southern Africa. PC Heemstra & E Heemstra, 2004 Smiths' Sea Fishes, MM Smith and PC Heemstra, 1986. More reef fishes and nudibranchs, D King & V Fraser, 2001. Sea Fishes of Southern Africa. JLB Smith, 1949.
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