Teleostei (teleosts) >
Eupercaria/misc (Various families in series Eupercaria) >
Sparidae (Porgies)
Etymology: Dentex: Latin, dens, dentis = teeth (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Linnaeus.
Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range
Ecology
Marine; benthopelagic; depth range 0 - 200 m (Ref. 3688), usually 15 - 50 m (Ref. 54220). Subtropical; 56°N - 12°N, 23°W - 42°E (Ref. 54220)
Eastern Atlantic: British Isles to Cape Blanc, Mauritania; (exceptionally further south) Senegal and around the Canary Islands and Madeira. Common south of 40°N (Spain, North Africa) in the Mediterranean (Ref. 4781).
Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm 34.6 range ? - ? cm
Max length : 100.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 3397); common length : 50.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 3688); max. published weight: 14.3 kg (Ref. 40637)
Inhabit hard bottoms (rock or rubble) down to 200 m depth. Usually found in shallow water less than 50 m deep (Ref. 9987). Adults solitary; young gregarious (Ref. 12482). Young fish caught with traps. Feed on fish, mollusks and cephalopods. Important food fish. Marketed fresh or frozen (Ref. 9987). Some attempts to culture this species have been successful. Due to low market supply, the potential for selling these fish from aquaculture operations seems to be good (Ref. 9987). A spear-fisherman cites a specimen caught in Greece (Corfu) with an overnight bottom-line about 1.60 m and 42 kg (Ref. 48271), but the identification cannot be verified.
Gonochoric, but some specimens are hermaphroditic. Species of separated sexes (although some individuals may be hermaphrodite in young stages). In the Mediterranean, reproduction takes place between March and May, in areas near the coast. Embryo development lasts about 3 days at 17°C.
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
Harmless
Human uses
Fisheries: commercial; aquaculture: commercial; gamefish: yes
Tools
Special reports
Download XML
Internet sources
Estimates based on models
Preferred temperature (Ref.
123201): 13.3 - 21.1, mean 18.1 °C (based on 298 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref.
82804): PD
50 = 0.5001 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01122 (0.00952 - 0.01322), b=3.03 (3.00 - 3.06), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref.
93245).
Trophic level (Ref.
69278): 4.5 ±0.4 se; based on diet studies.
Resilience (Ref.
120179): Low, minimum population doubling time 4.5 - 14 years (K=0.1; tm=2-3).
Prior r = 0.39, 95% CL = 0.26 - 0.58, Based on 9 data-limited stock assessments.
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref.
59153): High to very high vulnerability (66 of 100).
Climate Vulnerability (Ref.
125649): High vulnerability (63 of 100).
Nutrients (Ref.
124155): Calcium = 30.5 [16.1, 58.0] mg/100g; Iron = 0.656 [0.354, 1.189] mg/100g; Protein = 19.7 [18.2, 21.3] %; Omega3 = 0.417 [0.267, 0.640] g/100g; Selenium = 37.2 [16.4, 73.5] μg/100g; VitaminA = 15.4 [4.0, 56.7] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.558 [0.381, 0.828] mg/100g (wet weight); based on
nutrient studies.
