Gilt-head bream

Gilt-head bream
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Spariformes
Family:	Sparidae
Genus:	Sparus
Species:	S. aurata
Binomial name
Sparus aurata Linnaeus, 1758
Synonyms[2]
Aurata aurata (Linnaeus, 1758) Chrysophrys aurata (Linnaeus, 1758) Pagrus auratus (Linnaeus, 1758) Chrysophrys crassirostris Valenciennes, 1830

The gilt-head bream (Sparus aurata) , also known as the gilthead, gilt-head seabream or silver seabream, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Sparidae, the seabreams or porgies. This fish is found in the Eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. It is a highly esteemed food fish and an important species in aquaculture.

Taxonomy

The gilt-head bream was first formally

The gilt-head bream has the genus name Sparus which derives from sparos and Ancient Greek name for this species. The specific name, aurata, means "gold", an allusion to the gold band on the intraorbital part of the head.^[7]

Description

The gilt-head bream has a deep body, with a large, deep head which has its relatively small eyes placed high on the head. The diameter of the eyes is shorter than the length of the snout. The cheeks are deep and covered in scales but the

The gilt-head bream is found in the northeastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean from Great Britain and Ireland to possibly as far south as Senegal, including the Canary Islands. It is found around Madeira but these are escapes from aquaculture. It also occurs throughout the Mediterranean and in the southern and western parts of the Black Sea.^[1] This species is found over sandy substrates and in seagrass beds at depths between 1 and 150 m (3 ft 3 in and 492 ft 2 in), with adults in deeper waters than juveniles, the young fish typically going no deeper than 30 m (98 ft).^[2] It is a euryhaline species that will enter brackish waters.^[1]

Biology

The gilt-head bream feeds mainly on shellfish, but also some plant material.^[2]

Gilt-head bream are

The genome of the species was released in 2018, where the authors detected fast evolution of ovary-biased genes likely resulting from the peculiar reproduction mode of the species.[9]

Fisheries and aquaculture

Gilthead seabream is an esteemed food fish, but catches of wild fish have been relatively modest, between 6,100 and 9,600 metric tons (6,000 and 9,400 long tons; 6,700 and 10,600 short tons) in 2000–2009, primarily from the Mediterranean.^[10] In addition, gilthead seabream have traditionally been cultured extensively in coastal lagoons and saltwater ponds. However, intensive rearing systems were developed during the 1980s, and gilthead seabream has become an important aquaculture species, primarily in the Mediterranean area and Portugal. Reported production was negligible until the late 1980s, but reached 140,000 metric tons (140,000 long tons; 150,000 short tons) in 2010, thus dwarfing the capture fisheries production.^[11] Turkey is the biggest seabream producer in the world, followed by Greece.^[12]

Gilthead seabreams in aquaculture are susceptible to parasitic infections, including from Enterospora nucleophila.^[13][14]

Cooking

The gilt-head bream is considered to be the most esteemed seabream for eating, especially in Southern Europe where the mild and sweet flavour of the flesh, which breaks into small flakes, is popular.^[15]

See also

• Acanthopagrus

References