Description: A small to medium-sized seabream. Body oval, deep and laterally compressed. Mouth slightly protrusible, with thick lips; teeth differentiated into incisors and molars. Snout scaleless; cheeks scaly. Single dorsal fin. Caudal fin forked. Generally grey, brownish or greenish, with a broad black band from the nape to the insertion of the pectoral fins; another broad black band on the caudal peduncle, extending onto the posterior bases of the dorsal and anal fin. The fins are dark; the caudal fin is almost black.
Global Distribution: Eastern Atlantic from the Bay of Biscay to Cape Verde and from Angola to South Africa; also in the Mediterranean and Black Sea. View Map
BIOLOGICAL FEATURES
Size: Maximum length 45.0 cm (total length); common length 22.0 cm (TL); maximum published weight 1.3 kg.
Age:
Weight length rel.: Portugal, south coast (Santos et al. 2002): a=0.0152, b=2.989, r2=0.957 (n=1206).
Portugal, west coast (Mendes et al. 2004): a=0.0223, b=2.878, r2=0.905 (n=164).
Spain, south-west coast (Torres et al. 2012): a=0.0074, b=3.219, r2=0.98 (n=317).
FishBase: Bayesian estimated length-weight: a=0.01413 (0.01269 - 0.01573), b=3.06 (3.03 - 3.09).
Growth type: Isometric (Santos et al. 2002; Mendes et al. 2004) / positive allometric (Torres et al. 2012).
von Bertallanfy growth parameters:
Reproduction:
Maturity: 17.0 cm
Behavioural ecology: Usually gregarious; sometimes solitary. They sometimes follow surmullets (Mullus surmuletus) and capture prey that these fish displace when stirring the bottom with their barbels.
Population structure & migrations:
ECOLOGICAL FEATURES
Depth range: FishBase: 0 - 160 m, usually 0 - 30 m.
Habitat: Benthopelagic, inhabiting rocky and sometimes sandy bottoms to depths of 160 m, but more commonly in less than 50 m. The young are sometimes found in seagrass beds.
Feeding habits: Feeds on crustaceans, worms and molluscs.
Trophic level: FishBase: 3.2
FISHERIES
Commercial interest: Commercial species.
Conservation status: Global: Not evaluated.
Europe: Least concern.
Nutritional information & food safety:
REFERENCES
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.
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.
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.
