''Diplodus sargus'', the sargo, common white seabream, or white seabream 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 is found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and in the Mediterranean Sea. It is a target species for commercial fisheries and is grown in aquaculture. ''D. sargus'' ''

sensu lato ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular co ...

'' was formerly thought to be a widespread species in the eastern Atlantic and western Indian Oceans but the taxa outside of ''D, sargus'' ''

sensu stricto ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular c ...

'' are now recognised as valid species and are part of the ''D. sargus''

species complex In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

Taxonomy

''Diplodus sargus'' was first formally described as ''Sparus sargus'' 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 his ''

Systema naturae ' (originally in Latin written ' with the Orthographic ligature, ligature æ) is one of the major works of the Sweden, Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the syste ...

'' published in 1758. Linnaeus gave the type locality as the Mediterranean. '' D. vulgaris'' is closely related to ''D. sargus'' and these two taxa form a

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

within the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

Diplodus ''Diplodus'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging the family Sparidae, which includes the seabreams and porgies. These fishes are found in the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea and the western Indian Ocean. Taxonomy ''Diplodus'' wa ...

''. ''D. sargus'' was formerly thought to include populations away from the northeastern Atlantic and Mediterranean. These populations have now been recognised as separate species, '' D. noct'' in the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

, the Indian Ocean '' D. kotschyi'' the eastern Mediterranean '' D. levantinus'' and the eastern Atlantic '' D. ascensionis'', the Moroccan seabream ''D. cadenati'', the Cape white seabream '' D. capensis'', the St. Helena white seabream '' D. helenae'' and the

Cape Verde Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...

endemic '' D. lineatus''. Along with '' D. argenteus'', '' D. bermudensis'' '' D. caudimacula'' and '' D. holbrooki'' of the western Atlantic these taxa form the ''D. sargus''

with the genus ''Diplodus''. It is thought that the ''D. sargus'' species complex originated in the Cape Verde area and radiated and speciated from there. The genus ''Diplodus'' is placed in the family

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 ''

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 ...

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

Etymology

''Diplodus sargus'' has 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 ...

''sargus'' which is derived from ''sargo'', a Greek name for a sparid fish, which was in use at least as long ago as

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

''Diplodus sargus'' has a deep, somewhat compressed body with a high, arched back. The cheeks and

gill cover The operculum is a series of bones found in bony fish and Chimaera, chimaeras that serves as a facial support structure and a protective covering for the gills; it is also used for respiration and feeding. Anatomy The opercular series contain ...

are scaled. The mouth is terminal with thin lips and slightly protrusible jaws. At the front of each jaw there are 8, occasionally 10 in the upper jaw,

incisor Incisors (from Latin ''incidere'', "to cut") are the front teeth present in most mammals. They are located in the premaxilla above and on the mandible below. Humans have a total of eight (two on each side, top and bottom). Opossums have 18, wher ...

-like teeth with several rows of molar-like teeth behind them. There are 11 or 12 spines, typically 12, and between12 and 16 soft rays supporting 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 ...

while 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 ...

is supported by 3 spines and 12 to 14 soft rays. 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 forked. The overall colour is silvery-grey, the front of the head being darker. There are 9 vertical bars, these alternate between very dark and lighter bars but there may be only dark bars or none. There is a dark saddle-like blotch on the

caudal peduncle 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 ...

, immediately to the rear of the last soft rays of the dorsal fin. There is a black spot above the base of the

pectoral fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish aquatic locomotion, swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the vertebral column ...

. The dorsal and anal fins are dusky in colour, darkening towards their far edges. The rear edge of the caudal fin is black. There are only 5 stripes in juveniles. The white seabream 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, with a maximum published weight of .

Distribution and habitat

''Duiplodus sargus'' is found in the northeastern Atlantic from the southern

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

, the

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay ( ) is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Point Penmarc'h to the Spanish border, and along the northern coast of Spain, extending westward ...

and the Atlantic coasts of Spain and Portugal into the

Strait of Gibraltar The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Europe from Africa. The two continents are separated by 7.7 nautical miles (14.2 kilometers, 8.9 miles) at its narrowest point. Fe ...

and throughout the Mediterranean and Black Sea. It is replaced off the coast of Israel by ''D. levantinus''. In the eastern Atlantic this species has been moving north and has been recorded in the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They are divided into two Crown Dependencies: the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, ...

. The white sea bream is a

benthopelagic The demersal zone is the part of the sea or ocean (or deep lake) consisting of the part of the water column near to (and significantly affected by) the seabed and the benthos. The demersal zone is just above the benthic zone and forms a layer of ...

schooling 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 fo ...

species inhabiting coastal areas with rocky bottoms interspersed with sand from , being most numerous in the

surf zone The surf zone or breaker zone is the nearshore part of a body of open water between the line at which the waves break and the shore. As ocean surface waves approach a shore, they interact with the bottom, wave shoaling, get taller and steeper, an ...

. The young occur in ''

Zostera ''Zostera'' is a small genus of widely distributed seagrasses, commonly called marine eelgrass, or simply seagrass or eelgrass. The genus ''Zostera'' contains 15 species. Ecology '' Zostera marina'' is found on sandy substrates or in estuarie ...

'' beds and this species uses estuaries as nursery areas.

Biology

''Diplodus sargus'' is a daytime active, omnivorous fish which feeds on algae, sea-urchins, worms, gastropods and amphipods. The white seabream has been observed acting as a

cleaner fish Cleaner fish are fish that show a specialist feeding strategy by providing a service to other species, referred to as clients, by removing dead skin, ectoparasites, and infected tissue from the surface or gill chambers. This example of cleaning ...

in on the mullets

Thicklip grey mullet The thicklip grey mullet, ''Chelon labrosus'', is a coastal fish of the family Mugilidae. It typically is about long, with being the maximum recorded. It is named after its thick upper lip and silvery-grey appearance. It is a common fish of s ...

(''Chelon labrosus'') and

Flathead grey mullet The flathead grey mullet (''Mugil cephalus'') is an important food fish species in the mullet family Mugilidae. It is found in coastal temperate, tropical and subtropical waters worldwide. Its length is typically . It is known with numerous En ...

(''Mugil cephalus''). White seabream in the

Gulf of Tunis The Gulf of Tunis () is a large Mediterranean bay in north-eastern Tunisia, extending for from Cape Farina in the west to Cape Bon in the east. Tunis, the capital city of Tunisia, lies at the south-western edge of the Gulf, as have a series of s ...

spawned from March to May, sexual activity began as the water temperature rose from to , sex organs becoming active after the winter minimum temperature. As latitude decreases, the spawning season lengthens.

Fisheries and aquaculture

''Diplodus sargus'' is commercially fished, with 3,713 tonnes taken in 2008. The white seabream is mostly landed by artisanal fishers and is caught using fish traps,

gill net Gillnetting is a fishing method that uses gillnets: vertical panels of netting that hang from a line with regularly spaced floaters that hold the line on the surface of the water. The floats are sometimes called "corks" and the line with corks is ...

s and handlines. It is caught as

bycatch Bycatch (or by-catch), in the fishing industry, is a fish or other marine species that is caught unintentionally while fishing for specific species or sizes of wildlife. Bycatch is either the wrong species, the wrong sex, or is undersized or juve ...

in shrimp trawls. There have been a number of trials to see if this species has potential for

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. Nelu ...

in 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 ...

but this has proved to be difficult because this species grows slowly after its first year and this slow growth can impact the profitability of any commercial aquaculture. Since the 1990s some cooked white seabream is rubbery and inedible, not related freshness or preserving. Researchers refer to this as the abnormally tough specimen (ATS) phenomenon. The cause is unknown but it seems to occur around polluted areas, with the pollutants including

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

, used in

anti-fouling paint Anti-fouling paint is a specialized category of coatings applied as the outer (outboard) layer to the hull of a ship or boat, to slow the growth of and facilitate detachment of subaquatic organisms that attach to the hull and can affect a ve ...

Namesakes

''Diplodus sargus'' has the common name sargo in many languages and this name is also used for other food and gamefishes of the porgy family, in the coastal waters of the southern United States, such as the sheepshead (''

Archosargus probatocephalus ''Archosargus probatocephalus'', the sheepshead, sheepshead seabream or convict fish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Sparidae, the seabreams and porgies. This species is found in the Western Atlantic Ocean. The she ...

''). Two

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

submarines were named for this nimble fish, and .

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1989807

sargus ''Sargus'' is a genus of soldier flies in the family Stratiomyidae. Selected species *'' S. albibarbus'' Loew, 1855 *'' S. aureopilosus'' McFadden, 1982 *'' S. beppui'' Nagatomi, 1990 *'' S. bipunctatus'' (Scopoli, 1763) *'' S. caeruleapex'' ...

Commercial fish Game fish Fish of the East Atlantic Fish of the Mediterranean Sea Marine fish of Europe Marine fish of Africa Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Fish described in 1758