ANIMALIA / CHORDATA / ACTINOPTERYGII / PERCIFORMES / DINOPERCIDAE / DINOPERCA / PETERSI

Dinoperca petersi (Day, 1875)
LC Indigenous
ZODATSA
Morphological description

Cave bass have a dark brown head, body and fins with white specks on the body. These spots fade in large adults. The lower part of the head is pale with a dark moustache shaped marking across the cheek. Small juveniles have a silvery body and black markings, marking on the dorsal make it appear to be two separate fins.

Global distribution

Western Indian Ocean including Pakistan, southern Oman, Kenya, MOZ and eastern seaboard of SA (Smith and Heemstra 1991, Randall 1995).

SA distribution

In southern Africa cave bass are found south to Mossel Bay (Smith and Heemstra 1991, Heemstra and Heemstra 2004).

Movement

Cave bass are highly resident species but a very small proportion (<5%) appears to be more nomadic with movements of up to 90km (Mann 2012).

Trophic strategy

Adult cave bass feed on crustaceans such as shrimps, mantis shrimps, crabs as well as small fish (van der Elst 1988, Heemstra and Heemstra 2004) but the diet of juveniles in not known.

Reproduction

The specific reproductive style of cave bass is unknown. They have been reported to spawn in winter in KZN (van der Elst 1988) but most eggs are found in southern KZN during December to April (Connell 2012). Spawning take place off KZN in shelf waters at 20-30m depth (van der Elst 1988, Connell 2012). Average age at maturity is not known and the average length at maturity is estimated to be ~30cm TL (van der Elst 1988).

Biome

Inshore, Offshore (>30m)

Occurrence records map

This map contains point-based occurrences at different locations

iNaturalist: Data partners records: DNA:

Residence status

Occurrence in African countries and South African provinces. Residence status indicates if a taxon is indigenous, endemic, or alien in a specific region. This data is based on specimen records and literature.

FSA

SA

BOT

NAM

ESW

LES

WC

EC

NC

FS

GA

KZN

LP

MP

NW

Absent

Indigenous

Endemic

Naturalised

Invasive

Scientific name

Dinoperca petersi (Day, 1875)

Common names
  • Spelonkbaars (Af)
  • Lampfish (En)
  • Cavebass (En)
  • Cave Bass
  • Lantern Fish
Taxonomic classification
Kingdom animalia
Phylum chordata
Class actinopterygii
Order perciformes
Family dinopercidae
Genus dinoperca
Species petersi

Occurrence Records (6)

Data Sources Distribution
Records by Year
Filters
Date Place Data Resource Link
2015-10-06 KwaZulu-Natal iNaturalist View
2006-06-14 KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa iNaturalist View
2022-11-29 KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa iNaturalist View
2007-11-29 KwaZulu-Natal iNaturalist View
2023-07-13 KwaZulu-Natal iNaturalist View
2008-04-02 KwaZulu-Natal iNaturalist View
Uses

Cave bass form a minor part of catches in all fisheries where they occur (Dunlop 2011), except for subsistence fishing for which the contribution is not known. Frequently taken by spearfishers in KZN (Mann et al. 1997a).