Teleostei (teleosts) > Pleuronectiformes (Flatfishes) > Scophthalmidae (Turbots)
Etymology: Scophthalmus: Greek, skopelos = a lantern fish + Greek, ophthalmos = eyes (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Linnaeus.

Marine; brackish; demersal; oceanodromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 20 - 70 m (Ref. 6302); temperate; 70°N - 30°N25°W - 42°E.

Northeast Atlantic: throughout the Mediterranean and along the European coasts to Arctic Circle; also found in most of the Baltic Sea. Subspecies Psetta maxima maeotica in the Black Sea.

Maturity: L_m 40.8, range 41 - 54 cm
Max length: 100 cm SL male/unsexed (Ref. 4703); common length: 50.0 cm TL male/unsexed (Ref. 35388); common length: 70.0 cm TL (female); max. published weight: 25.0 kg (Ref. 9988); max. reported age: 25 years (Ref. 32766).

Adults live on sandy, rocky or mixed bottoms; rather common in brackish waters. Feed mainly on other bottom-living fishes (sand-eels, gobies, etc.), and also, to a lesser extent, on larger crustaceans and bivalves. Batch spawner (Ref. 51846). Spawning season is between April and August; pelagic eggs. May reach 25 kg (Ref. 9988). Highly esteemed food fish. Utilized fresh or frozen; eaten steamed, pan-fried, broiled, boiled, microwaved and baked (Ref. 9988).

Spawning usually happens between the months of February and April in the Mediterranean and from May to July in the Atlantic. Sequenced spawning every 2-4 days. Eggs have a single fat drop. Larvae are initially symmetric but, at the end of the metamorphosis (day 40-50, 25 mm), the right eye moves to the left side, losing its initial bilateral symmetry. Egg size 0.9 - 1.2 mm, larval length at hatching 2.7-3.1 mm.

Bauchot, M.-L. 1987 Poissons osseux. p. 891-1421. In W. Fischer, M.L. Bauchot and M. Schneider (eds.) Fiches FAO d'identification pour les besoins de la pêche. (rev. 1). Méditerranée et mer Noire. Zone de pêche 37. Vol. II. Commission des Communautés Européennes and FAO, Rome. (Ref. 3397)

  Least Concern (LC); date assessed: December 07 2020

Not Evaluated

Not Evaluated

  Harmless

Fisheries: commercial; aquaculture: commercial; gamefish: yes; aquarium: public aquariums.
FAO - Aquaculture: production, species profile; Fisheries: landings, Publication: search | FIRMS - Stock assessments | FishSource | Sea Around Us

• Countries
• FAO areas
• Ecosystems
• Occurrences
• Introductions
• Stocks
• Ecology
• Diet
• Food items
• Food consumption
• Ration
• Common names
• Synonyms
• Metabolism
• Predators
• Ecotoxicology
• Reproduction
• Maturity
• Spawning
• Spawning aggregation
• Fecundity
• Eggs
• Egg development
• Age/Size
• Growth
• Length-weight
• Length-length
• Length-frequencies
• Morphometrics
• Morphology
• Larvae
• Larval dynamics
• Recruitment
• Abundance
• References
• Aquaculture
• Aquaculture profile
• Strains
• Genetics
• Allele frequencies
• Heritability
• Diseases
• Processing
• Mass conversion
• Vision
• Pictures
• Stamps, Coins Misc.
• Sounds
• Ciguatera
• Speed
• Swim. type
• Gill area
• Otoliths
• Brains

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 5.9 - 11.9, mean 9.4 °C (based on 239 cells).

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804): PD₅₀ = 0.5645 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].

Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01122 (0.00922 - 0.01365), b=3.06 (3.00 - 3.12), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref. 93245).

Trophic level (Ref. 69278): 4.4 ±0.0 se; Based on diet studies.

Generation time: 4.8 (3.8 - 5.8) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 24 growth studies.

Resilience (Ref. 120179): Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (K=0.15-0.28; tm=3-5; tmax=26; Fec=5 million).

Prior r = 0.50, 95% CL = 0.33 - 0.75, Based on 9 full stock assessments.

Fishing vulnerability (Ref. 59153): High vulnerability (60 of 100).

Climate vulnerability (Ref. 125649): High vulnerability (65 of 100).

Price category (Ref. 80766): Very high; Reliable: based on ex-vessel price for this species.

Nutrients (Ref. 124155): Calcium = 28.5 [12.1, 48.8] mg/100g; Iron = 0.144 [0.058, 0.649] mg/100g; Protein = 19.5 [18.0, 21.0] %; Omega3 = 0.275 [0.153, 0.500] g/100g; Selenium = 14.1 [6.4, 33.9] μg/100g; VitaminA = 8.19 [2.10, 35.13] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.156 [0.092, 0.524] mg/100g (wet weight); based on nutrient studies.