Description: A small to medium-sized pelagic fish. Scute-like scales, expanded dorsolaterally, in a curved lateral line. Small black spot on the edge of the operculum. Black, grey or bluish green dorsally; ventral parts usually paler, white to silvery.
Global Distribution: Mediterranean Sea and Eastern Atlantic: Norway to South Africa, round the coast to Maputo. View Map
BIOLOGICAL FEATURES
Size: Maximum length 70.0 cm (total length); common length 22.0 cm (fork length); maximum published weight: 2.0 kg.
Age:
Weight length rel.: Portugal, south coast (Borges et al. 2003): a=0.01072, b=2.888, r2=0.97 (n=264).
Portugal, south coast (Santos et al. 2002): a=0.0078, b=3.016, r2=0.982 (n=583).
Portugal, west coast (Mendes et al. 2004): a=0.0269, b=2.633, r2=0.878 (n=441).
Spain, south-west coast (Torres et al. 2012): a=0.0134, b=2.841, r2=0.98 (n=476).
FishBase: Bayesian estimated length-weight: a=0.00933 (0.00819 - 0.01063), b=2.96 (2.92 - 3.00).
Growth type: Isometric (Santos et al. 2002) / Negative allometric (Mendes et al. 2004; Torres et al. 2012).
von Bertallanfy growth parameters:
Reproduction: Batch spawners. Females lay 140,000 eggs, which hatch into 5mm long larvae. Eggs are pelagic.
Maturity: 23.9 cm, range 21 - 30 cm.
Behavioural ecology: Schooling species.
Population structure & migrations: Divided into two stocks: West stock and North Sea stock. West stock spawns in a belt from the Biscay to Ireland in early spring, migrates north and eastwards to southern Norway and northern North Sea. North Sea stock spawns in the southern North Sea in summer, migrates to central North Sea, Skagerrak and Kattegat.
ECOLOGICAL FEATURES
Depth range: FishBase: 0 - 1050 m, usually 100 - 200 m.
Habitat: Adults form large schools in coastal areas with sandy substrate.
Feeding habits: They feed on fish, crustaceans, and cephalopods.
Trophic level: FishBase: 3.6
FISHERIES
Commercial interest: Important commercial species elsewhere, but rare in Madeira, where Trachurus picturatus is more abundant.
Conservation status: Global: Not evaluated.
Europe: Least concern.
Nutritional information & food safety: Proximate composition per 100 g:
energy value 143.4 kcal (7.2% DRV)
protein 18.2 g (36.4% DRV)
fat 5.0 g (7.1% DRV)
REFERENCES
Borges T.C., Olim S., Erzini K. (2003). Weight–length relationships for fish species discarded in commercial fisheries of the Algarve (southern Portugal). Journal of Applied Ichthyology, 19(6): 394-396.
Hureau J.-C., ed. (1984-1985). Fishes of the North-Eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. UNESCO. Accessed through: Marine Species Identification Portal. World Wide Web electronic publication. http://species-identification.org (2014).
IUCN (2014). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.1. www.iucnredlist.org
Mendes B., Fonseca P., Campos A. (2004). Weight–length relationships for 46 fish species of the Portuguese west coast. Journal of Applied Ichthyology, 20(5): 355-361.
Nieto A., Ralph G.M., Comeros-Raynal M.T., Kemp J., GarcÃa Criado M., Allen D.J., Dulvy N.K., Walls R.H.L., Russell B., Pollard D., GarcÃa S., Craig M., Collette B.B., Pollom R., Biscoito M., Labbish Chao N., Abella A., Afonso P., Ãlvarez H., Carpenter K.E., Clò S., Cook R., Costa M.J., Delgado J., Dureuil M., Ellis J.R., Farrell E.D., Fernandes P., Florin A-B., Fordham S., Fowle, S., Gil de Sola L., Gil Herrera J., Goodpaster A., Harvey M., Heessen H., Herler J., Jung A., Karmovskaya E., Keskin C., Knudsen S.W., Kobyliansky S., KovaÄić M., Lawson J.M., Lorance P., McCully Phillips S., Munroe T., Nedreaas K., Nielsen J., Papaconstantinou C., Polidoro B., Pollock C.M., Rijnsdorp A.D., Sayer C., Scott J., Serena F., Smith-Vaniz W.F., Soldo A., Stump E., Williams J.T. (2015). Europen Red List of Marine Fishes. IUCN and European Union, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 90 pp.
Santos M.N., Gaspar M.B., Vasconcelos P., Monteiro C.C. (2002). Weight–length relationships for 50 selected fish species of the Algarve coast (southern Portugal). Fisheries Research, 59(1): 289-295.
Spitz J., Mourocq E. Schoen V., Ridoux V. (2010). Proximate composition and energy content of forage species from the Bay of Biscay: high- or low-quality food? ICES Journal of Marine Science, 67(5): 909-915.
Torres M.A., Ramos F., Sobrino I. (2012). Length–weight relationships of 76 fish species from the Gulf of Cadiz (SW Spain). Fisheries Research, 127: 171-175.
