Blackspot seabream facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Blackspot seabream |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Pagellus
|
| Species: |
bogaraveo
|
| Synonyms | |
|
|
The blackspot seabream (Pagellus bogaraveo) is a type of ray-finned fish that lives in the ocean. It is also known as the red seabream or besugo. This fish belongs to the Sparidae family, which includes many kinds of seabreams.
You can find the blackspot seabream in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, from Norway all the way down to Mauritania. It also lives in the western Mediterranean Sea.
Contents
What Does It Look Like?
The blackspot seabream has a body that is fairly deep and a rounded snout. It has large eyes, which are bigger than its snout. Inside its mouth, it has small, sharp teeth and also flatter, larger teeth on the sides of its jaws.
This fish has a long dorsal fin (the fin on its back) with 12 spines and 12 to 13 soft rays. Its shorter anal fin (the fin on its belly, near the tail) has three spines and 12 to 13 soft rays. The pectoral fins (fins on its sides, like arms) are long and pointed.
The top part of its body and its back are reddish. The bottom part is silvery with a hint of pink. You can spot a black dot right above where its pectoral fin starts. This fish can grow up to 70 centimeters (about 27 inches) long, but usually, they are around 30 centimeters (about 12 inches). The heaviest one ever recorded weighed about 4 kilograms (almost 9 pounds).
Where Does It Live?
The blackspot seabream mostly lives in the eastern North Atlantic Ocean. Its range stretches from Norway south to Cape Blanc in Mauritania. It also swims into the western Mediterranean Sea, reaching as far as the Strait of Sicily and the Adriatic Sea.
You can also find this fish around the Canary Islands and the Azores. It has even been seen near Iceland!
Its Home and How It Lives
Blackspot seabreams live in coastal waters over different types of seafloors, like rocks, sand, and mud. In the Mediterranean, they can be found down to 400 meters (about 1,300 feet) deep. In the Atlantic, they go even deeper, up to 700 meters (about 2,300 feet).
Younger fish stay closer to the coast. Older, adult fish move to the continental slope, especially where the seafloor is muddy. This fish is an omnivore, which means it eats both plants and animals. Its diet includes crustaceans (like crabs and shrimp), molluscs (like snails and clams), and small fish.
Life Cycle and Spawning
The blackspot seabream is a special kind of fish called a protoandrous hermaphrodite. This means that when they are young, they are males. But as they get older, usually between 2 and 7 years old, they change and become females!
They lay their eggs, a process called spawning, throughout the year. The busiest spawning times depend on where they live. For example, near the British Isles, they spawn from August to October. In the Bay of Biscay, it's from January to April. Farther south, off Morocco and in the Mediterranean, spawning peaks from January to May. A female fish, about 31 to 41 centimeters (12 to 16 inches) long, can lay between 70,000 and 500,000 eggs! They become ready to reproduce when they are 4 to 5 years old and about 22 to 25 centimeters (9 to 10 inches) long. These fish like to live in groups and travel to coastal waters to spawn.
How Humans Use This Fish
The blackspot seabream is an important fish for food. It is sold fresh and frozen in markets, especially around the Mediterranean. Fishermen catch them using different methods like trawls (large nets pulled by boats), trammel nets (nets with multiple layers), and bottom long lines (long lines with many baited hooks).
Both large fishing companies and smaller, local fishermen catch this species. It's also a popular fish for people who enjoy sport fishing. You can often find blackspot seabream in fish markets in France, Spain, Morocco, and Italy. However, it's less common in markets in Sicily, Tunisia, Greece, and Turkey.
In the past, fishermen from Andalusia near the Strait of Gibraltar used a special deep-water fishing line called a voracera to catch them. They would bait it with small sardines. Today, blackspot seabream is quite expensive in Spain because there aren't as many of them due to too much fishing. This has led to more fish being brought in from Portugal and Morocco. This fish has also been used to make fishmeal and oil. It is even raised in aquaculture farms (fish farms) off the coast of Spain.
See also
In Spanish: Besugo para niños
