The black seabream (''Spondyliosoma cantharus'') is a species of marine

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class of bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built fins made of webbings of sk ...

belonging to the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Sparidae Sparidae is a family of ray-finned fishes belonging to the order Spariformes, the seabreams and porgies, although they were traditionally classified in the order Perciformes. The over 150 species are found in shallow and deep marine waters in t ...

, which includes the seabreams and porgies. This fish has a wide distribution in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

and

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

s. The black seabream is an important food fish, especially in Europe.

Taxonomy

The black seabream was first formally described as ''Sparus cantharus'' by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

in the 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'' published in 1758 with its type locality given as the Mediterranean. In 1816

Georges Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, baron Cuvier (23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier (; ), was a French natural history, naturalist and zoology, zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuv ...

classified it in the new genus ''Cantharus'', the black bream being the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

tautonym A tautonym is a scientific name of a species in which both parts of the name have the same spelling, such as '' Rattus rattus''. The first part of the name is the name of the genus and the second part is referred to as the ''specific epithet'' i ...

y, but ''Cantharus'' was preoccupied so Theodore Cantor renamed the genus ''Spondyliosoma'' in 1849. The 5th edition of ''

Fishes of the World ''Fishes of the World'' is a standard reference for the systematics of fishes. It was first written in 1976 by the American ichthyologist Joseph S. Nelson (1937–2011). Now in its fifth edition (2016), the work is a comprehensive overview of t ...

'' classifies the genus ''Spondyliosoma'' in the family Sparidae within the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

Spariformes Spariformes is an order of ray-finned fishes consisting of six families within the series Percomorpha. Taxonomy Spariformes was first used as a taxonomic term in 1860 by the Dutch physician, herpetologist and ichthyologist Pieter Bleeker. Trad ...

by the 5th edition of ''

''. Some authorities classify this genus in the subfamily Boopsinae, but the 5th edition of Fishes of the World does not recognise subfamilies within the Sparidae.

Etymology

The black seabream is classified in the genus ''Spondyliosoma'' which combines ''spondylus'', meaning "spindle", and ''soma'', which means body. The author of the genus, Cantor, did not explain what thus alluded to, nor is it clear. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

''cantharus'' which is a latinisation of ''kantharos'', an

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

name for this species, dating from at least the time of

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

Description

The black seabream has a moderately deep body with a small, round profiled head with a mouth that extends as far back as the front of the eye. The

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates. Dorsal fins have evolved independently several times through convergent evolution adapting to marine environments, so the fins are not all homologous. They are found ...

is supported by 11 spines and between 11 and 13 soft rays and there are 3 spines and 9 to 11 soft rays supporting the

anal fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported o ...

. In adults the dorsal profile of the head is convex. The cheeks, operculum and

preoperculum This glossary of ichthyology is a list of definitions of terms and concepts used in ichthyology, the study of fishes. A B C ...

have no scales. There are 4 to 6 rows of conical and thin teeth, the outer teeth enlarged especially at the front of the jaw, in both jaws. The

caudal fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported only ...

is slightly forked. The colour if this fish is darker grey on the upper body, silvery on the flanks, with between 6 and 9 dark vertical bars along the body. The males may turn nearly black when nesting. This species has a maximum published

total length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies, for data used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fishery biology. Overall length Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish measured f ...

of , although is more typical, and a maximum published weight of .

Distribution and habitat

The black seabream has a wide distribution in the eastern Atlantic Ocean from Scandinavia in the north to Namibia in the south, including the

Macaronesia Macaronesia (; ) is a collection of four volcanic archipelagos in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlantic, North Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of North Africa and Europe. Each archipelago is made up of a number of list of islands in the Atlantic Oc ...

, the Mediterranean and the western Black Sea. It is found at depths between over

seagrass Seagrasses are the only flowering plants which grow in marine (ocean), marine environments. There are about 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to four Family (biology), families (Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae, Hydrocharitaceae and ...

beds and rocky and sandy substrates.

Biology

The black seabream is omnivorous, feeding on algae and benthic invertebrates. especially crustaceans. It often gathers in large

schools A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of ...

. This species is a

protogynous hermaphrodite Sequential hermaphroditism (called dichogamy in botany) is one of the two types of hermaphroditism, the other type being simultaneous hermaphroditism. It occurs when the organism's sex changes at some point in its life. A sequential hermaphrodite ...

, the females can attain sexual maturity at around two years old and a

of while in the males sexual maturity is reached at around three years old and a total length . Once they have matured as males the appear to remain male until reaching a length of and all fishes over are female. In Britain and Ireland this species spawns in April and May and the fish move from wintering areas in deeper offshore waters to more coastal waters. The males excavate a shallow depression in the sand or gravel piling the spoil around the edge to creat a crater like structure. The female then lays the eggs into this depression and the male guards the eggs from predators and keeps them clear of debris until they hatch. Farther south,

spawning Spawn is the Egg cell, eggs and Spermatozoa, sperm released or deposited into water by aquatic animals. As a verb, ''to spawn'' refers to the process of freely releasing eggs and sperm into a body of water (fresh or marine); the physical act is ...

takes place earlier in the year.

Fisheries

The black seabream is a valued food fish and is an important target species for commercial fisheries, as well as for recreational fishers during the spawning season. It is targeted throughout its extensive distribution but espacially to the north of Senegal. It is caught by line fishing, trawling, beach seines, fixed nets and fish traps. This species is landed throughout the year but the amount landed varies seasonally. It is sold fresh, frozen or salted and dried and the flesh is highly valued. Some of the catch is processed to produce

fish meal Fish meal (sometimes spelled fishmeal) is a commercial product made from whole wild-caught fish, bycatch, and fish by-products to feed farm animals, such as pigs, poultry, and farmed fish.R. D. Miles and F. A. Chapman.FA122: The Benefits of Fish ...

and

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...

. Black seabream is frequently sold in the markets in Tunisia, Morocco, Italy, Cyprus, Greece, Turkey and Sicily, and is infrequently marketed in other areas. are landed in Portugal per annum, where this fish is a very important species for commercial inshore fisheries.

References

External links

Page at Fish Base
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1135606 black seabream Fish of Africa Fish of Europe Fauna of Macaronesia Fish of the Mediterranean Sea black seabream Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus