Teleostei (teleosts) >
Eupercaria/misc (Various families in series Eupercaria) >
Sparidae (Porgies)
Etymology: Pagellus: Diminutive of Latin, pager, derived from Greek, pagros = a fish, Dentex sp. (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Linnaeus.
Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range
Ecology
Marine; benthopelagic; depth range ? - 300 m (Ref. 4781), usually 20 - 100 m (Ref. 4781). Subtropical; 63°N - 10°N, 32°W - 42°E
Eastern Atlantic: Norway and the Mediterranean to Guinea-Bissau (Ref. 26999), including Cape Verde, Madeira and the Canary Islands. Rarely recorded in Scandinavia (Ref. 4781).
Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm 14.2, range 13 - 16 cm
Max length : 60.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 4781); common length : 25.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 4781); max. published weight: 3.2 kg (Ref. 40637)
Found on inshore waters, on various bottom (rock, gravel, sand and mud) to 200 m (Mediterranean) or 300 m (Atlantic) and move to deeper waters during winter. Omnivorous, but feed mainly on benthic invertebrates and small fishes (Ref. 3688). Protogynic hermaphrodites, females become males first in their third year with sizes of about 17 cm. Important food fish.
Possibly two spawning periods in the southern Mediterranean (Ref. 4781). Length at which sex change possibly occurs is between 12.8 and 20.3 cm FL (Ref. 57849).
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 2024-1)
Threat to humans
Reports of ciguatera poisoning (Ref. 4690)
Human uses
Fisheries: commercial; gamefish: yes
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Estimates based on models
Preferred temperature (Ref.
123201): 12.2 - 21, mean 17.2 °C (based on 492 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref.
82804): PD
50 = 0.5156 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01000 (0.00902 - 0.01109), b=3.02 (3.00 - 3.04), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref.
93245).
Trophic level (Ref.
69278): 3.5 ±0.1 se; based on diet studies.
Generation time: 6.1 (5.4 - 7.3) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 18
growth studies.
Resilience (Ref.
120179): Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (K=0.24; tm=1-2; tmax=13; Fec=31,000).
Prior r = 0.54, 95% CL = 0.35 - 0.80, Based on 8 full stock assessments.
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref.
59153): Moderate vulnerability (40 of 100).
Climate Vulnerability (Ref.
125649): Moderate vulnerability (41 of 100).
Nutrients (Ref.
124155): Calcium = 101 [50, 194] mg/100g; Iron = 0.546 [0.317, 0.919] mg/100g; Protein = 19.7 [18.6, 20.9] %; Omega3 = 0.384 [0.256, 0.577] g/100g; Selenium = 88.3 [41.4, 196.7] μg/100g; VitaminA = 8.36 [2.06, 37.61] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.449 [0.331, 0.672] mg/100g (wet weight); based on
nutrient studies.
