The west coast seabream or west coast steenbras (''Lithognathus aureti'') is a species of marine

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

in the family

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 ...

. It is found in very shallow water off the coasts of to Angola, Namibia and South Africa. The

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

lists its conservation status as being "

near threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been Conservation status, categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as that may be vulnerable to Endangered species, endangerment in the ne ...

Description

The west coast seabream is a deep-bodied fish that can grow to a length of about . The maximum recorded weight is . The head is shorter than its depth, and the profile is slightly convex above the eye. There are no scales on the snout and the upper jaw is protusible. The teeth are small, with a single outer row of pointed teeth and two inner rows of small molars. The dorsal fin has eleven spines and nine to ten soft rays, and the anal fin has three spines and eight to nine soft rays. The pectoral fin is longer than the head and has fifteen to sixteen soft rays. The colour is silvery-grey with about seven faint, vertical bars which are more visible in young fish. This species could be confused with the sand steenbras (''Lithognathus mormyrus''), but that has a shallower body, more rays in its dorsal and anal fins, and ten to fourteen dark bars. The

white steenbras The white steenbras (''Lithognathus lithognathus'') is a species of fish in the family Sparidae endemic to South Africa. Due to overfishing, primarily by seine netting operations in False Bay False Bay (Afrikaans: ''Valsbaai'') is a body o ...

(''Lithognathus lithognathus'') is also similar, but has a longer head and more slender body.

Distribution and habitat

Endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the coast of southwestern Africa, the west coast seabream's range extends from Rio Longa, in Angola, to Cape Town, South Africa, but it is uncommon outside Namibian waters. It occurs in two separate populations; one in the northern and central part of Namibia and one around Meob Bay in the south. It lives close inshore in the surf zone, usually at depths of less than over sandy seabeds.

Ecology

The west coast seabream feeds on invertebrates on the seabed such as

crab Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura (meaning "short tailed" in Greek language, Greek), which typically have a very short projecting tail-like abdomen#Arthropoda, abdomen, usually hidden entirely under the Thorax (arthropo ...

s, polychaete worms and

bivalve molluscs Bivalvia () or bivalves, in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of aquatic molluscs (marine and freshwater) that have laterally compressed soft bodies enclosed by a calcified exoskeleton consis ...

. This fish is a protandric hermaphrodite. This means it starts its adult life as a male and later changes its sex to female. As a male, the average age to reach maturity is about 4.8 years for northern populations and about 6 years for southern ones. As a female, the average ages are 7.2 and 9.7 respectively. The eggs are spawned in the surf zone and tend to drift northwards with the sea current.

Status

The northern population of west coast seabream is a popular fish with rock-and-surf sea anglers, and the southern population is sometimes the target of commercial line-fishing. The total population is declining and because of its slow growth rate and longevity, this fish is susceptible to over-fishing. Because of this, the

has listed its conservation status as being "

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1919285 west coast seabream Fish of Namibia Marine fish of Southern Africa Taxa named by J. L. B. Smith west coast seabream