Author: Linnaeus, 1758
Diplodus annularis Linnaeus, 1758
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Diplodus annularis (Linnaeus, 1758) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: 8 incisors in each jaw, molars at back of jaws in 2-4 upper and 2-3 lower series; 1-3 rows of small molars just behind incisors; gillrakers 9-12 lower, 7-8 upper. D XI + 11-13; A III + 11-12. Lateral line scales 48-56 to caudal base. Colour: silver grey, yellowish; I almost annular dark band around caudal pcduncle just behind dorsal and anal fins; pelvics yellow, other fins light; small dark spot at the upper pectoral axil; juveniles with 5 narrow transverse black stripes and the peduncular band complete and black. Size: to 24 cm SL, usually 12-15 cm.
Habitat: Iittoral, on Posidonia beds and sandy bottoms, rarely on rocky bottoms, 0-3 m (Atlantic and northern Mediterranean) or O-90 m (southern Mediterranean); young enter brackish waters and lagoons at the end of winter. Gregarious when young. Food: carnivorous (worms, crustaceans, molluscs, echinoderms, hydrozoans). Reproduction: AprilJune (Atlantic and western Mediterranean), February-April (eastern Mediterranean), May-August (northern Adriatic), July-September (Black Sea); normally sexes are separate although some individuals hermaphroditic (protandrous); maturity at 1 year (about 10 cm).
Distribution: Mediterranean, Black Sea and Azov Sea, Atlantic from Bav of Biscay to Gibraltar, Madeira, the Canaries.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Lo Bianco, 1909: 743 | Ranzi, 1930: 407-416; 1933: 361, pl. 28 (fig. 1-10) | Vodjanitzki and Kazanova, 1954: 268, fig. 23 (10 fig.) | Varagnolo, 1964: 257, pl. 6 (fig. 28-32).
Otoliths (sagitta). Koken, 1884: 538, pl. 10 (fig. 6) | Chaine, 1937: 139, pl. 14.