Description: A small sparid fish. Body elongate and fusiform, slightly compressed. Large eyes, small oblique mouth, with very thin lips. Snout scaleless; cheeks scaly. Single dorsal fin. Pectoral fins relatively short. Caudal fin forked. Back greenish or bluish, sides silvery or golden, with 3 to 5 longitudinal golden lines, and a small dark spot at the pectoral axil. Lateral line dark; fins light.
Size: Maximum length 40 cm (total length); common length 20.0 cm (TL).
Age:
Weight length rel.: Portugal, south coast (Borges et al. 2003): a=0.01208, b=2.892, r2=0.90 (n=505).
Portugal, south coast (Santos et al. 2002): a=0.0085, b=3.040, r2=0.967 (n=90).
Portugal, west coast (Mendes et al. 2004): a=0.0074, b=3.084, r2=0.930 (n=277).
Spain, south-west coast (Torres et al. 2012): a=0.0147, b=2.842, r2=0.94 (n=454).
FishBase: Bayesian estimated length-weight: a=0.01023 (0.00916 - 0.01143), b=3.01 (2.98 - 3.04).
Growth type: Isometric (Santos et al. 2002; Mendes et al. 2004) / negative allometric (Torres et al. 2012).
von Bertallanfy growth parameters:
Reproduction: Hermaphroditic, generally protogynous.
Maturity: 13.0 cm, range 12 - ? cm.
Behavioural ecology: Gregarious. Generally form loose schools that swim near the surface or at mid-water; sometimes they clump together in dense schools.
Population structure & migrations:
ECOLOGICAL FEATURES
Depth range: FishBase: 0 - 350 m, usually 0 - 100 m.
Habitat: Littoral, benthopelagic or semipelagic. Found on the shelf or coastal pelagic over various bottoms (sand, mud, rocks and seaweeds). Ascends to the surface mainly at night.
Feeding habits: Omnivorous, feeding mainly on crustaceans, also planktophagous.
Trophic level: FishBase: 3.0
FISHERIES
Commercial interest: Commercial species. In Madeira, it is a minor part of the "ruama" purse seine fishery for small pelagic species.
Conservation status: Global: Not evaluated.
Europe: Least concern.
Nutritional information & food safety:
Proximate composition per 100 g:
energy value: 120.7 kcal (6.0% DRV)
protein: 18.22 g (36.4% DRV)
fat: 1.31 g (1.9% DRV)
of which saturates: 0.593 g (3.0% DRV)
omega-3 (EPA+DHA): 0.217 g (recommended: 0.250 - 2.0 g daily)
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.
Crec'hriou R., Neveu R., Lenfant P. (2012). Length–weight relationship of main commercial fishes from the French Catalan coast. Journal of Applied Ichthyology, 28(5): 861-862.
Direcção Regional de Pescas, Madeira.
FAO-WHO (2010). Fat and fatty acids in human nutrition. Report of an expert consultation, 10-14 November 2008, Geneva. FAO Food and Nutrition Paper 91. Rome, Italy, 180 pp.
Fischer W., Bianchi G., Scott W.B., eds. (1981). FAO species identification sheets for fishery purposes. Eastern Central Atlantic; fishing areas 34, 47 (in part). Canada Funds-in-Trust. Ottawa, Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, by arrangement with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, vol. 4, 316 pp.
González J., Hernández C., Marrero P., Rapp E. (2000). Peces de Canarias: GuÃa Submarina (5th edition). Francisco Lemus Editor, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canarias, Spain, 235 pp.
IUCN (2014). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.1. www.iucnredlist.org
Kalogeropoulos N., Andrikopoulos N.K., Hassapidou M. (2004). Dietary evaluation of Mediterranean fish and molluscs pan-fried in virgin olive oil. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 84: 1750-1758.
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.
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.
