Relevant synonyms Saurida grandisquamis Misidentification None Meristic formula D, 11-12; A, 10-12; P, 14-15; V, 9; LL 48-52  photo : David Darom

SHORT DESCRIPTION Body slender and cylindrical; head slightly depressed with large mouth and long jaws terminating behind eye. Numerous needle-like teeth visible when mouth is closed. Teeth present also on the tongue and on the two palatine bands, the inner ellipsoid and short, the outer longer and consisting anteriorly of 2 rows. Adipose fin present above anal fin. Caudal fin forked. All pelvic fin rays similar in size. color : brown-beige on the back with silvery white belly. Series of dark spots on first dorsal ray and upper caudal ray. Usually a series of 7-10 dark spots along lateral line. size : common 15 - 35 cm (max. 40 cm). DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS Synodus saurus: inner pelvic fin rays much shorter than outer; a single pair of slender bands of palatine teeth. Aulopidae: large eyes, more than half of head depth; dorsal fin origin in front or equal to pelvic fin origin. Merluccidae, Sillaginidae, Sphyraenidae, Trachinidae and Callionymidae: no adipose fin. BIOLOGY / ECOLOGY Feeds mainly on fish and, to a lesser extent, on decapods crustaceans. Spawning season lasts from March to December. Diameter of riped oocytes 0.5 - 0.6 mm. Eggs and larvae planktonic. habitat : demersal. On flat sand or muddy substrate at depths of 30-70 m (rarely: to 100 m).

1st MEDITERRANEAN RECORD Israel, 1953. DISTRIBUTION Worldwide : wide Indo-Pacific from the Red Sea and eastern Africa to Australia and southern Japan. Mediterranean : recorded first in Israel, trawl (Ben-Tuvia, 1953b). Successively records in Cyprus (Ben-Tuvia, 1962); Turkey (Ben-Tuvia 1966, specimens from 1956); Greece (Ondrias, 1971); Libya (Zupanovic and El-Buni, 1982); Dodecanese (Sulak, 1984); Crete (Tsiminides et al., 1991); Egypt (El Sayed, 1994); Albania (Rakaj, 1995). ESTABLISHMENT SUCCESS Very common. speculated reasons for success : utilizing an unsaturated niche. MODE OF INTRODUCTION Via the Suez Canal. IMPORTANCE TO HUMANS Important commercial fish. Caught by trawl in large quantities.

KEY REFERENCES Ben-Tuvia A., 1953 b. New Erythrean fishes from the Mediterranean coast of Israel. Nature, 172:464-465. Ben-Yami M. and Glaser T., 1974. The invasion of Saurida undosquamis (Richardson) into the Levant Basin - An example of biological effect of interoceanic canal. Fishery Bulletin, 72:359-373. Bograd-Zismann L., 1965. The food of Saurida undosquamis in the eastern Mediterranean in comparison with that in Japanese waters. Rapp. Comm. int. Mer Médit., 18:251-252.   Golani D., 1993a. The biology of the Red Sea migrant, Saurida undosquamis, in the Mediterranean and comparison with the indigenous confamilial Synodus saurus (Teleostei: Synodontidae). Hydrobiologia, 271: 109-117. FEEDBACK / COMMENTS TO AUTHORS

Last update of the species sheet: April 2002 ©ciesm 2002