Relevant synonyms None Misidentification None Meristic formula D1, VIII; D2, I+28-33; A, II+I+17-20; P, I+19; V, I+5; GR 23-26  photo : Francisco Riera

SHORT DESCRIPTION Body elongated. Posterior end of upper jaw relatively slender. In adults, length of second dorsal fin lobe relatively short, usually 10-15% shorter than pectoral fin and 11-13% of fork length. Soft anal fin base distinctly shorter than dorsal fin base. Anterior margin of first pterygiophore of anal fin moderately concave. Caudal peduncle grooves present and moderately developed. Lateral line without scutes. color : adults: dark pinkish or violet dorsally, sides lighter, and belly white or silvery. Juveniles (smaller than ca. 20 cm fork length): yellow with 7 dark body bars, irregular and broken, third to seventh extending onto the inter-radial membranes of the second dorsal and anal fins, and an eighth bar, small and dark, at end of caudal peduncle. size : common 8-25 cm (Mediterranean) (max. 67.5 cm - Atlantic). DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS Seriola dumerili: end of upper jaw relatively broad; in adults, length of second dorsal fin lobe about equal or slightly longer than pectoral fin (13-18% fork length). Other Seriola spp.: relatively higher end of upper jaw, first dorsal and anal rays pointed and longer than pectoral fin. BIOLOGY / ECOLOGY Feeds on cephalopods and fishes; spawning probably occurs during the summer. The capture of small juveniles in October-November, and individuals around one year of age in different areas of the Mediterranean this spawning. habitat : juveniles epipelagic under floating objects in oceanic waters or in offshore neritic areas, and adults bentho-pelagic.

1st MEDITERRANEAN RECORD Balearic Islands, 1993. DISTRIBUTION Worldwide : Madeira and Canary Islands in the eastern Atlantic; in the western Atlantic, from the Gulf of Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Bermuda. Mediterranean : recorded first in Balearic Islands (Massutí and Stefanescu, 1993) ; successively recorded in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea, off Sicily and Lampedusa in the Sicilian channel (Andaloro and Potoschi, 1997), in the Gulf of Lions (Quignard and Tomasini, 2000) and in the Gulf of Gabes, Tunisia (Bradai, 2000). Rhodes, Israel and Malta. ESTABLISHMENT SUCCESS Rare. speculated reasons for success : - MODE OF INTRODUCTION Via Gibraltar. IMPORTANCE TO HUMANS It is scarce in the Mediterranean (only 8 records in the area). Nevertheless, its presence in the commercial catches can be underestimated due to its probable misidentification as S. dumerili. Recently, it has been observed the capture of S. fasciata in the purse seine fishery.

KEY REFERENCES Andaloro F. and Potoschi A., 1997. Ichthyofauna associated to fish aggregation devices in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea. Proceedings of a Workshop on the biology and fishery of dolphin-fish and related species, Palma de Mallorca, October 1997. Bradai M.N., 2000. Diversité du peuplement ichtyque et contribution à la connaissance des Sparidés du golfe de Sfax. Thèse d'Etat. Faculté des Sciences de Sfax, 600 pp. Massutí E. and Stefanescu C., (1993). First record of Seriola fasciata (Bloch, 1793) (Osteichthyes: Carangidae) in the Mediterranean. Journal of Fish Biology, 42: 143-144.   Quignard J.P. and Tomasini J.A., 2000. Mediterranean fish biodiversity. Biologia Marina Mediterranea, 7 (3): 1-66. FEEDBACK / COMMENTS TO AUTHORS

Last update of the species sheet: November 2013 ©ciesm 2002