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| Porifera |
| Ctenophora |
| Cnidaria |
| Mollusca |
| Echinodermata |
| Annelida |
| Arthropoda |
| Other Phyla |
| Chordata |
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Sea-Breams
| Common
Name(s):
Sea-Bream Family Name: Sparidae Family: Usual Size:
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Identification:
The Black Sea Bream is rather variable in appearance, though the deep body with long dorsal and anal fins is characteristic, some individuals are much deeper-bodied than others. Young fish have silvery flanks with many pale broken lines along them and a wide dark band on the tail; adults may be silvery or dark blue-grey, almost black in mating males, and may have alternating dark and silver vertical stripes on their sides. Adults are usually 35 - 40 cm long, occasionally more. They are omnivorous, feeding on small fish and crustaceans, small encrusting animals and algae, and are usually seen and caught around rocky areas and wrecks. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Compare with an unidentified Bream, possibly Pagrus pagrus.
Notice the position of the eyes in relation to the mouth. Ray Fallaize caught a record Couch's Sea-Bream, Pagrus pagrus, on rod and line from a boat in Guernsey waters. His capture has been accepted by the British Record Angling Committee. It weighed 6 lb 9 oz 7 drams (3 kg). Its total length was 560 mm and fork length was 495 mm. Report
and Photograph by Richard
Lord (Guernsey)
Full
Report
British Sea Angling Records Sealord Photography BMLSS Couch's Bream ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fishbase entry (Link)
6 September
2006
Report
by David Fenwick (Snr)
Breeding:
Black Sea-Bream, Spondyliosoma cantharus, breed regularly at the eastern end of the English Channel; this is probably their northern limit for breeding, although they are found as summer migrants around much of Britain. The male excavates a depression in a sandy seabed, and the female lays her eggs into it. The eggs stick to the base of the nest, where they are fertilised and guarded fiercely by the male until they hatch. The young fish remain in the area of the nest for several weeks before dispersing. The
Black
Sea Bream,
Spondyliosoma
cantharus, is a protogynous hermaphrodite
- female first and then becoming a male at a length of over 20 cm (I think,
from memory). The White Sea Bream,
Diplodus
sargus, is a protandrous hermaphrodite,
starting life as a male and becoming a female later in life. White
Sea Bream are found in the seas around
the Channel Islands in the English Channel.
Comment
by Richard Lord (Guernsey)
Habitat:
Food: Range: Additional Notes:
A
young Black Sea-Bream
Black Bream are popular with anglers, but not usually abundant enough to be fished commercially. They are also known as Old Wife. I have seen plenty
of small Black Sea Bream when diving out of both Littlehampton and Bognor
in Sussex with sizes varying from 3 - 4 cm long up to 13 cm, but never
larger. Smaller ones, up to about 10 cm, were always in loose shoals with
up to 7 individuals seen at one time, but may have been part of a larger
shoal. They were usually to be found over a mixed cobble, pebble and gravel
seabed.
Notes: Black Bream have returned to the seas around Mevagissey in south Cornwall this year, with four specimens caught by an angler off the Lighthouse Quay at Mevagissey and displayed in the Aquarium (05.01.06) on the quay in the harbour. Report
by Chris Gilbertson
When swimming the fish is usually
a silvery colour, but when resting at night or when caught on a hook, the
fish displays black vertical barring. However, specimens seen at Anglesey
Sea Zoo caught in the seas around north Wales were black.
10
July 2005
Report
by Jim Crighton
11 January
2002
Witek Mojsiewicz reports the capture of a Black Sea-Bream, Spondyliosoma cantharus, caught by MFV 'Charisma' 18 miles NW of Macduff in the Moray Firth, NE Scotland. The fish was 365 mm long and weighed 940 grams. The sea temperature was 6° C. This fish is rare this far north. Off the Sussex coast this is a common fish that supports a small fishery and the winter sea temperature only falls to 7° C. Received
28 May 2003
National
Federation of Sea Anglers
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reports
by Nicolas Jouault and Richard
Lord
8 October
2001
Red Sea Bream (=Backspot Sea Bream), Pagellus bogaraveo 28
January 2008
Report
and Photograph by Richard
Lord (Guernsey)
Sealord
Photography
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bramidae: family of Pomfrets Information wanted: Please
send any records of this fish, with location, date, who discovered it,
how it was identified, prevalence, common name and any other details to
All messages will receive
a reply.
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