Food and Agriculture Organization of the Fisheries and for a world without hunger Aquaculture Department

Species Fact Sheets labrax (Linnaeus, 1758)

Dicentrarchus labrax: (click for more) Dicentrarchus labrax: (click for more)

Synonyms Sciaena diacantha Bloch, 1792. Naturg. Ausl. Fische 6; 58, Pl. 302 (). No types known. Type catalog: Paepke 1999:101. Centropomus lupus Lacepéde, 1802. Hist. nat. Pois., 4: 267 (Adriatic Sea). No type material. Centropomus mullus Lacepéde, 1802. Hist. Nat. Poiss., 4: 251, 268. Rouen and Metaihe, France. No types known. Perca elongata E. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1817. Descr. Egypte, Paris Atlas, pl. 19 (fig. 1) (Egypt). No type material. Perca sinuosa E. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1817. Poiss. Nil, 1; pl. 20 (fig. 3). Labrax lupus Cuvier, 1828, in Cuv. Val., Hist. Nat. Poiss., 2: 56, pl. 2. Labrax linnei Malm, 1877. Göteborgs Bohusläns Fauna: 379. Original as Linnéi. Tentatively regarded as an unneeded replacement name for Perca labrax Linnaeus 1758 (to avoid "Strickland tautonomy"). Locality . Roccus labrax Smitt, 1893, 1: 45, fig. labrax Boulenger, 1895, 130-131. Dicentrarchus lupus Fowler, 1936, 2: 742-743, fig. 329.

FAO Names En - European seabass, Fr - Bar européen, Sp - Lubina. 3Alpha Code: BSS Taxonomic Code: 1700634503

Scientific Name with Original Description Perca labrax Linnaeus, 1758. Sist. nat., ed 10: 290 ('Habitat in Europa australiore'). 1758. A specimen from Gronovius Collections, now BMNH 1853.11.12.1, is probably part of the type series (Wheeler, 1958: 218).

Diagnostic Features Body rather elongate. Opercle with 2 flat spines; preopercle with large, forward-directed spines on its lower margin. Mouth terminal, moderately protractile Vomerine teeth in a crescentic band, without a backward extension on midline of roof of mouth. Two separate dorsal fins; the first with 8 to 10 spines; the second with 1 spine and 12 or 13 soft rays. Anal fin with 3 spines and 10 to 12 soft rays. Scales small; lateral line complete with 62 to 74 (mode 70), but not extending onto caudal fin. FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department Caudal fin moderately forked. Colour silvery grey to bluish on the back, silvery on the sides, belly sometimes tinged with yellow. Young with some dark spots on upper part of body but adults never spotted. A diffuse spot on the edge of opercle.

Geographical Distribution

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North Atlantic from and the British Isles southward to Morocco and the Canaries, also Mediterranean and . Elsewhere, southward to .

Habitat and Biology Demersal behaviour,inhabits coastal waters down to about 100 m depth, but more common in shallow waters, on various kinds of bottoms; often entering estuaries and sometimes ascending rivers.Young form school, but adults apper to be less gregarious. Reproduction in January to March in the Mediterranean and Black Sea, March to June in British Isles. A voracious predator, feeding on small shoaling fish and a wide range of including shrimps, prawns, crabs, squids and molluscs.

Size Maximum 100 cm; common to 50 cm

Interest to Fisheries Separate statistics are not reported for this species in FAO Fishing Area 34. Caught in bottom trawls , beach seines and on hooks and lines. Highly sought by sportfishermen. Marketed mostly fresh or frozen, also smoked.

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Global Aquaculture Production for species (tonnes) Source: FAO FishStat 300k

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Local Names ALBANIA : Lvreku . BULGARIA : Labrak , Lavrak . DENMARK : Bars . EGYPT : Karus . FINLAND : Meribassi . FRANCE : Bar , Bar commun , Bar européen , Bog , Brigue , Drelique , Gutgareo , Loubas negre , Loubine , Loup , Loupassou , Lubin , Luvassu , Pigne . GERMANY : Gemeiner seebarsch , Gemeiner wolfsbarsch , Meerbarsch , Salmbarsch , Seawolf , Seabarsch , Wolfsbarsch . GREECE : Lavráki .

FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department IRELAND : An bhas , , Doingean . ICELAND : Vartari . ISRAEL : Lavraq . ITALY : Baicolo , Brancino , Perchia , Persicospigola , Spigola . JAPAN : Hata . LEBANON : Birrâq , Ghimbâr . MALTA : Lupu , Spigola , Spina , Sponotta . NETHERLANDS : Zeebaars . NORWAY : Havabbor , Havâbor , Havaborre . POLAND : Labraks . PORTUGAL : Robalo , Robalo-legitimo . ROMANIA : Lavrac , Lup-de-mare . RUSSIA : Lavrak . SLOVENIA : Brancin , Luben . : Baieta , Baila , Llobarro , Llobina , Llop , Llubina , Lubina , Robaliza , Robalo . SWEDEN : Havsaborre . TUNISIA : Qarous . TURKey : Çizgili mercan , Levrek baligi . UKRAINE : Lavraki . UNITED KINGDOM : Bass , Capemouth , Common bass , , King of the mullets , Sea dace , Sea perch , White mullet , White salmon . UNITED STATES : European bass , White salmon . YUGOSLAVIA : Kanjci , Kirnje , Lubin , Smudut .

Related links Check this species at FishBase

Bibliography Cuvier, G. & A. Valenciennes - 1828. Histoire naturelle des poissons. Tome second. Livre Troisième. Des poissons de la famille des perches, ou des percoïdes. Hist. Nat. Poiss. v. 2: i-xxi + 2 pp. + 1-490, Pls. 9-40. [Valenciennes author of pp. 238-249, 262-386, Cuvier the remainder. i-xvii + 1-317 in Strasbourg edition.] Fowler, H. W. - 1936. The marine of West based on the collection of the American Museum Congo expedition, 1909-1915. Part II. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. v. 70 (pt 2): 607-1493. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, E. - 1817. Poissons du Nil, de la mer Rouge et de la Méditerranée. in: Description de l'Egypte, ... Histoire Naturelle. Poiss. Nil v. 1. pls. 18-27. Guérin-Méneville, F. E - 1829-38. Iconographie du Règne de G. Cuvier ... (1829-44). I. Planches des Animaux Vertébrés. Paris. Iconogr. Régne Animal IV, Poissons: 1-44, pls. 1-70. Lacepéde, B. G. E. - 1802. Histoire naturelle des poissons. Hist. Nat. Poiss. v. 4: i-xliv + 1-728, pl. 1-16. Linnaeus, C. - 1758. , Ed. X. (Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata.)

FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department Holmiae. v. 1: i-ii + 1-824. [Nantes and Pisces in Tom. 1, pp. 230-338. Lloris, D. & S. Meseguer - 2000. Recursos Marins del Mediterrani. (Fauna i Flora del mar Catalá). Direcció General de Pesca i Afers Marítims. 245 pp. Malm, A. W. - 1877. Göteborgs och Bohusläns fauna, Ryggradsdjuren. Göteborg. Göteborgs Bohusläns Fauna: 1-674, pls. 1-9. Mercader, Ll., D. Lloris & J. Rucabado - 2001. Tots els peixos del mar catalá (Diagnosis i Claus d'identificaciò). Institut d'Estudis Catalans. Arxius de les seleccions de Ciències, CXXVIII, Secciò de Ciències Biològiques: 350 pp. Paepke, H.-J. - 1999. Bloch's fish collection in the Museum für Naturkunde der Humboldt Universität zu Berlin: an illustrated catalog and historical account. Theses Zool. v. 32: 1-216, Pls. 1-32 (unpaginated). Smith, C.L - 1990. . 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-Portugal, SEI-France, Unesco. Vol. II: 692-694. Smitt, F. A. - 1892-95. A history of Scandinavian fishes, by B. Fries, C. U. Ekström, and C. Sundevall. 2nd edition, revised and completed by F. A. Smitt. Stockholm and London, 1893-95. v. 1 (1892): 1-566 + i-viii, Plates: part 1:1-27, [Proofed from translated version; v. 1 (1893)] Tortonese, E. - 1973. Serranidae. In: J.-C. Hureau and Th. Monod (eds). Check-list of the fishes of the north- eastern Atlantic and of the Mediterranean (CLOFNAM). Unesco, Paris, vol. I: 355-362. Tortonese, E. - 1986. Moronidae. In: P.J.P. Whitehead, M.-L. Bauchot, J.-C. Hureau, J. Nielsen and E. Tortonese (eds). Fishes of the North-eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean (FNAM). Unesco, Paris. Vol. II: 793-796.

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