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Scophthalmus maximus  (Linnaeus, 1758)

Turbot
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Scophthalmus maximus
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Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) > Pleuronectiformes (Flatfishes) > Scophthalmidae (Turbots)
Etymology: Scophthalmus: Greek, skopelos = a lantern fish + Greek, ophthalmos = eyes (Ref. 45335).

Environment / Climate / Range Ecology

Marine; brackish; demersal; oceanodromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 20 - 70 m (Ref. 6302).   Temperate; 70°N - 30°N, 23°W - 42°E

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm 49.0, range 41 - 54 cm
Max length : 100.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 4703); common length : 50.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 35388); common length :70 cm TL (female); max. published weight: 25.0 kg (Ref. 9988); max. reported age: 25 years (Ref. 32766)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Body almost circular. Eye side without scales but with large bony tubercles (Ref. 35388).

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Introductions | Faunafri

Northeast Atlantic: throughout the Mediterranean and along the European coasts to Arctic Circle; also found in most of the Baltic Sea. Subspecies Psetta maxima maeotica in the Black Sea.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Adults live on sandy, rocky or mixed bottoms; rather common in brackish waters. Feed mainly on other bottom-living fishes (sand-eels, gobies, etc.), and also, to a lesser extent, on larger crustaceans and bivalves. Batch spawner (Ref. 51846). Spawning season is between April and August; pelagic eggs. May reach 25 kg (Ref. 9988). Highly esteemed food fish. Utilized fresh or frozen; eaten steamed, pan-fried, broiled, boiled, microwaved and baked (Ref. 9988).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Bauchot, M.-L., 1987. Poissons osseux. p. 891-1421. In W. Fischer, M.L. Bauchot and M. Schneider (eds.) Fiches FAO d'identification pour les besoins de la pêche. (rev. 1). Méditerranée et mer Noire. Zone de pêche 37. Vol. II. Commission des Communautés Européennes and FAO, Rome.

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 90363)

  Not Evaluated 

Threat to humans

  Harmless




Human uses

Fisheries: commercial; aquaculture: commercial; gamefish: yes; aquarium: public aquariums
FAO(Aquaculture: production, species profile; fisheries: production; publication : search) | FIRMS (Stock assessments) | FisheriesWiki | Sea Around Us

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Summary page | Point data | Common names | Photos

Internet sources

Alien/Invasive Species database | BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | Faunafri | Fishtrace | GenBank(genome, nucleotide) | GOBASE | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | iSpecies | National databases | Public aquariums | PubMed | Scirus | SeaLifeBase | Tree of Life | uBio | Wikipedia(Go, Search) | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates of some properties based on empirical models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82805):  PD50 = 0.5645   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01283 (-0.04075 - 0.06642), b=3.03317 (2.99665 - 3.06969), based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref. 93245).
Trophic Level (Ref. 69278):  4.0   ±0.63 se; Based on food items.
Resilience (Ref. 69278):  Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (K=0.15-0.28; tm=3-5; tmax=26; Fec=5 million).
Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Moderate to high vulnerability (51 of 100) .
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Very high.