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

Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) > Perciformes (Perch-likes) > Sparidae (Porgies)
Etymology: Sparus: Latin, sparus = a fish with a golden head (Ref. 45335). More on author: Linnaeus.

Environment / Climate / Range Ecology

Marine; brackish; demersal; depth range 1 - 150 m (Ref. 35388), usually 1 - 30 m (Ref. 54890). Subtropical; 62°N - 15°N, 17°W - 43°E (Ref. 54890)

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: L_m ?, range 33 - 40 cm
Max length : 70.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 35388); common length : 35.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 4781); max. published weight: 17.2 kg (Ref. 40637); max. reported age: 11 years (Ref. 7253)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 11; Dorsal soft rays (total): 13-14; Anal spines: 3; Anal soft rays: 11 - 12. Body tall, with large black spot on the gill cover. Snout more than twice as long as the eye diameter (Ref. 35388).

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

Eastern Atlantic: British Isles, Strait of Gibraltar to Cape Verde and around the Canary Islands; also in the Mediterranean (Ref. 3688). Reported from the Black Sea (Ref. 12781). Reports from New Zealand refer to Pagrus auratus (Foster 1801) (Ref. 5755, 9258).

Found in seagrass beds and sandy bottoms as well as in the surf zone commonly to depths of about 30 m, but adults may occur to 150 m depth. A sedentary fish, either solitary or in small aggregations. In spring, they often occur in brackish water coastal lagoons and estuaries. Mainly carnivorous, accessorily herbivorous (Ref. 3688). Feed on shellfish, including mussels and oysters. One of the most important fishes in saline and hypersaline aquaculture. Utilized fresh and eaten steamed, pan-fried, broiled, boiled, microwaved and baked (Ref. 9987).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Bauchot, M.-L. and J.-C. Hureau, 1990. Sparidae. p. 790-812. In J.C. Quero, J.C. Hureau, C. Karrer, A. Post and L. Saldanha (eds.) Check-list of the fishes of the eastern tropical Atlantic (CLOFETA). JNICT, Lisbon; SEI, Paris; and UNESCO, Paris. Vol. 2.

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 90363)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Harmless

Human uses

Fisheries: commercial; aquaculture: commercial; gamefish: yes

FAO(Aquaculture: production, species profile; fisheries: production, species profile; publication : search) | FIRMS (Stock assessments) | FisheriesWiki | Sea Around Us

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Estimates of some properties based on empirical models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82805): PD₅₀ = 1.0000 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].

Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01288 (-0.01989 - 0.04566), b=3.02396 (3.00374 - 3.04418), based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref. 93245).

Trophic Level (Ref. 69278): 3.3 ±0.5 se; Based on diet studies.

Resilience (Ref. 69278): Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (K=0.28; tmax=11; tm=2-3).

Vulnerability (Ref. 59153): Low to moderate vulnerability (35 of 100) .

Price category (Ref. 80766): Very high.

Sparus aurata Linnaeus, 1758