Red mullet

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Red mullet
Red mullets

Red mullets

Systematics
Spinefish (Acanthopterygii)
Perch relatives (Percomorphaceae)
Order : Pipefish (Syngnathiformes)
Family : Red mullet (Mullidae)
Genre : Mullus
Type : Red mullet
Scientific name
Mullus barbatus
Linnaeus , 1758
Red mullets in a market in Samsun , Turkey

The red mullet or red mullet ( Mullus barbatus ) is a perch-related marine fish that occurs in the north-eastern Atlantic from Senegal via the Canary Islands to the coasts of the British Isles , in the Mediterranean Sea and, more rarely, in the North Sea and the Skagerrak on the coast of southern Norway. In addition to the nominate form M. b. barbatus there is also the subspecies M. b. ponticus Essipov, 1927, those in the Black and Azov Seaslives. The fish stay at depths of 10 to 300 meters.

features

Red mullets grow to a maximum of 28 to 30 centimeters in length, but usually stay at 8 inches. Females grow slightly larger than males. The head profile of the red mullet is much steeper than that of the striped mullet . Your two goatees are shorter to the same length as the pectoral fins. Their coloring is variable. The fins are unpatterned.

Way of life

Red mullets live in large schools close to the ground, especially on soft sandy and muddy bottoms. They look for their food consisting of small crustaceans, bristle worms and molluscs with the help of their barbels, which are equipped with taste and touch cells and are often accompanied by alien fish, especially wrasse and sea ​​bream , which eat the scared bottom animals.

Reproduction

Red mullets spawn from April to August. Eggs and larvae float pelagically in the water. The fry are initially colored blue and live pelagic up to a size of three to four centimeters. Then they move on to life close to the ground. At a length of ten to eleven centimeters, they become sexually mature.

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 .
  • Hans A. Baensch / Robert A. Patzner: Mergus Sea Water Atlas Volume 7 Perciformes (perch-like) , Mergus-Verlag, Melle, 1998, ISBN 3-88244-107-0

Individual proof

  1. ^ Fishbase Mullus barbatus ponticus

Web links

Commons : Mullus barbatus  - Collection of images, videos and audio files