Author: Linnaeus, 1758
Eutrigla gurnardus Linnaeus, 1758
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Eutrigla gurnardus (Linnaeus, 1758) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: head large without deep occipital groove. First dorsal fin with 7-10 spines, second dorsal fin with 18-20 rays; 17-20 anal rays; pectoral fins short, barely reaching anal fin origin. Lateral line scales a little larger than body scales, with a spinate median keel and a posterior denticulated edge. Breast naked and belly partially scaled. Vertebrae 37-39 (11-13 precaudal and 25-27 caudal). Total gillrakers on first gill arch 10-14. Colour: variable, usually greyish-brown with a red tinge on back and sides, exceptionally dull red; underside cream coloured; back and sides usually covered with small white spots; a large rounded black mark present on the first dorsal fin. Size: to 50 cm, usually to 30 cm.
Habitat: mostly common on sandy grounds, sometimes on rocky bottoms, and also on mud between coastline to 140 m depth; caught near the surface at night. Behaviour: general migration towards the shore during summer, where it can enter estuaries. Food: crustaceans, mostly shrimps and shore crabs; fishes, mostly gobies, flatfishes, young herring and sand eels. Reproduction: spawning from January to June at 25-50 m depth; the eggs are pelagic, as are the young until attaining a length of 3 cm; sexually mature at 3 or 4 years old.
Distribution: in the eastern Atlantic from Iceland, Norway, southern Baltic Sea, North Sea to southern Morocco, Madeira; Mediterranean and Black Sea.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Holt, 1893: 33, pl. 2 (fig. 141 6); 1899: 22 | Cunningham, 1889: 11, pl. 1 (fig. 3) | Fage, 1918: 114, fig. 80-81 | Padoa, 1956b: 636, fig. 509-515.
Otoliths (sagitta). Scott, 1906: 55, pl. IB (fig. 52) | Sanz EcheverrÃa, 1926: 156 | Priol, 1932: 227, fig. 5 | Chaine and Duvergier, 1934: 109, pl. 2.