Author: Asso, 1801
Argyrosomus regius Asso, 1801
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Argyrosomus regius (Asso, 1801) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: body elongate nearly fusiform; mouth large, oblique and terminal; teeth in upper jaw villiform in narrow bands, outer row slightly enlarged; lower jaw teeth in 2 or 3 irregular rows, one enlarged. Dl IX-X; D2 I + 26-29. A II + 7-8. Caudal fin truncate to S-shaped. Scales ctenoid, except for some cycloid scales on chest, snout and below eyes. Swimbladder with 36-42 pairs of arborescent appendages. Colour: silvery, darker on back, with bronze reflections on sides, inside of mouth yellowish-orange when fresh; fins greyish. Size: to 140 cm SL, possibly to 200 cm, common to 50 cm.
Habitat: inshore and shelf waters, close to bottom as well as in surface and midwaters, from 15 to about 200 m; enters estuaries and coastal lagoons. Pursuing shoals of clupeids and mugilids, congregating inshore to spawn. Food: fishes and swimming crustaceans. Reproduction: usually from April to July in southern Mediterranean.
Distribution: along the Atlantic coast northward to English Channel, North Sea and southern Norway and Sweden, a single record from Iceland; also whole Mediterranean, western end of Black Sea and Sea of Marmara, also in lakes of Nile delta and Bitter Lakes to Gulf of Suez. Elsewhere, southward to Congo, including the Canaries.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. No data.
Otoliths (sagitta). Aldrovandus, 1648: 796, fig. 45 (as Umbra) | Klein, 1740: 2, pl. I (fig. 1), pl. IV DD (Sciaena) | Shepherd, 1914: 137, pl. III (fig. 2); 1916: 179, fig. 152 | Pieragnoli, 1918: 38, pl. II (fig. 33c) | Sanz EcheverrÃa, 1926: 155; 1929a: 17, pl. VI (fig. 45) | Chaine, 1938: 72, pl. IX | Sanz EcheverrÃa, 1950: 9, pl. III (fig. 5 Weiler, 1968: 122.