Yellow welted bream
| Yellow welted bream | ||||||||||||
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Yellow welted bream caught on a line in Rovinj |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Boops boops | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The boops boops ( Boops boops ) is a marine fish of the family of sea bream (Sparidae).
features
The yellow welted bream reaches a maximum length of 36 centimeters, an average length of 20 centimeters and becomes sexually mature with a length of about 12 centimeters. Its body is unusually slim for a sea bream. The eyes are very large, the mouth rather small, with small, pointed teeth and terminal. The back is colored gray-blue to shiny gold, the sides are silvery. 3 to 5 golden stripes run below the darkly protruding side line . There is a small black spot at the top of the pectoral fin base. The continuous dorsal fin is supported by 13 to 15 hard rays and 12 to 16 soft rays and has a yellow border. The short anal fin has three spine rays and 14 to 16 soft rays. The caudal fin is large, deeply forked and colored yellow.
distribution
The main distribution area is the Mediterranean, where the species is one of the sparid species that dominate deep water. The fish also live in the eastern Atlantic from Norway to Angola including the waters around the Canary and Cape Verde Islands, as well as around São Tomé and Príncipe, and rarely in the Black Sea.
Way of life
The yellow bream lives at depths of up to 350 meters above sandy, muddy and rocky floors. At night it rises to the surface of the water. The species can only be found near the coast on cliffs and in deep harbors. The fish prefer twilight and weak light conditions.
Food is consumed exclusively in open water. The yellow welted bream mainly eats pelagic crustaceans such as hover shrimp and other plankton organisms , larger specimens also catch small fish such as ear fish, sardines, sardines and fish larvae, and small squids are also eaten. The hunt takes place in small groups, with large specimens also solitary.
Reproduction
Like many sea bream, it is a protogyn hermaphrodite ; That is, the female genital organs mature first and then the male ones. Young fish are therefore females, old and large specimens are males.
Fishing and exploitation
This species of sea bream does not play a role in commercial fishing, the occasional by-catch can sometimes be found in local markets in the Mediterranean region.
The flesh of the yellow bream is tasty and very soft.
literature
- Bent J. Muus, Jørgen G. Nielsen: The marine fish of Europe in the North Sea, Baltic Sea and Atlantic. Kosmos, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-440-07804-3 .
- Patrick Louisy: Europe and the Mediterranean - European Fish Identification Giude . Ulmer, 2015.
Web links
- Yellow bream on Fishbase.org (English)