The black seabream (''Spondyliosoma cantharus'') is a species of

Sparidae The Sparidae are a family of fish in the order Perciformes, commonly called sea breams and porgies. The sheepshead, scup, and red seabream are species in this family. Most sparids are deep-bodied compressed fish with a small mouth separated by a ...

fishes. They are recognisable by their oval compressed body and jaws containing 4-6 rows of slender teeth which are larger at the front. They are silvery in colour with blue and pink tinges and broken longitudinal gold lines. They can reach a maximum size of 60 cm in length. They live in northern Europe and 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 north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

, usually found on the inshore shelf at depths varying from 5 to 300 m. They are usually found in schools feeding on seaweeds and invertebrates. They breed in February to May leaving eggs in the demersal zone. Black seabream are protogynous meaning females have the ability to change to males.

References

External links

Page at Fish Base

black seabream The black seabream (''Spondyliosoma cantharus'') is a species of Sparidae fishes. They are recognisable by their oval compressed body and jaws containing 4-6 rows of slender teeth which are larger at the front. They are silvery in colour with bl ...

Fish of Africa Fish of Europe Fauna of Macaronesia Fish of the Mediterranean Sea

Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Perciformes-stub