Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range
Ecology
Marine; benthopelagic; depth range 20 - 220 m (Ref. 2683). Subtropical; 46°N - 17°S, 23°W - 37°E
Eastern Atlantic: Portugal to Angola (Ref. 4781); also in the Mediterranean and around the Canary and São Tomé-Principe islands.
Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm 34.7 range ? - ? cm
Max length : 106 cm FL male/unsexed; (Ref. 40637); common length : 60.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 3688); max. published weight: 16.4 kg (Ref. )
Occur on the shelf on rocky and rubble bottoms, as well as on sand around rocks. The young are close to shore while the adults occur offshore in the vicinity of the continental slope. Feed mainly on crustaceans, fish and cephalopods (Ref. 4781). Minimum depth reported taken from Ref. 27000. Maximum published weight 15 kg (Ref. 5377) and reported 16.42 kg (Miguel Cañizares (pers.comm. 7/2019).
Life cycle and mating behavior
Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae
The majority (50-70%) are males up to 50 cm length, transforming into females thereafter (Ref. 4781). Also Ref. 28504.
Bauchot, M.-L. and J.-C. Hureau, 1990. Sparidae. p. 790-812. In J.C. Quero, J.C. Hureau, C. Karrer, A. Post and L. Saldanha (eds.) Check-list of the fishes of the eastern tropical Atlantic (CLOFETA). JNICT, Lisbon; SEI, Paris; and UNESCO, Paris. Vol. 2. (Ref. 3688)
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-2)
Threat to humans
Harmless
Human uses
Fisheries: commercial; gamefish: yes
Tools
Special reports
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Internet sources
Estimates based on models
Preferred temperature (Ref.
123201): 13 - 19.3, mean 15.5 °C (based on 193 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref.
82804): PD
50 = 0.5001 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01072 (0.00916 - 0.01253), b=3.03 (3.00 - 3.06), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref.
93245).
Trophic level (Ref.
69278): 4.1 ±0.59 se; based on food items.
Resilience (Ref.
120179): Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (K=0.12-0.19; tmax=7).
Prior r = 0.49, 95% CL = 0.32 - 0.73, Based on 2 data-limited stock assessments.
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref.
59153): High vulnerability (60 of 100).
Nutrients (Ref.
124155): Calcium = 31.8 [17.2, 58.1] mg/100g; Iron = 0.687 [0.384, 1.179] mg/100g; Protein = 19.7 [18.1, 21.1] %; Omega3 = 0.403 [0.260, 0.618] g/100g; Selenium = 40 [19, 76] μg/100g; VitaminA = 13 [4, 43] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.576 [0.407, 0.831] mg/100g (wet weight);
