Spondyliosoma Cantor, 1849
Diagnosis: body ovoid, rather deep; upper profile of head depressed above eye; snout short. Scales on cheek and opercle, preopercle scaleless. In each jaw 4-6 rows of conical and rather slender teeth, the outer enlarged, especially in front of jaw; gillrakers 14-16 lower, 8-9 upper. D Xl + 11 13; A 111 + 9-11. Lateral line scales 66-75 to caudal base. Colour: silvery grey with bluish, greenish and pinkish tints; interorbital space and snout darker; on sides, longitudinal golden lines more or less discontinuous; fins dusky, generally caudal with black margin. Size: to 60 cm SL, usually 20-30 cm.
Habitat: inshore waters on rocky or sandy bottoms and Posidonia beds to 50 m (young) and 300 m (adults). Gregarious, sometimes in large schools. Food: omnivorous (algae, small invertebrates, mainly crustaceans). Reproduction: February-May, eggs laid in sand; hermaphroditic protogynous.
Distributon: all Mediterranean; very rare in Black Sea; Atlantic from Scandinavia to Angola; Madeira, the Canaries and the Cape Verde Is.
Species 1.
Species of this genus in the program:
Spondyliosoma cantharus