Sharpsnout seabream

Appearance

Even if it can reach the 60 cm and about 2 kg of weight, usually it just exceeds the kilo and the 40 cm.

It differs from the other breams, to which it morphologically resembles in the oval and compressed shape of the body, due to the profile of the snout. Usually this is convex, but here it is concave and forms almost a beak.

The teeth, placed over and under on one only row, have 8 cutting incisors bent forward for taking off the preys from the stones, followed by unassuming small molars.

The long dorsal fin, with 11 spiny rays and 13-14 unarmed, almost reaches the caudal fin, slightly forked. The anal fin, shorter, as usual, counts three spiny rays and 12 soft, whilst the ventral ones have only one spine with 5 soft rays. The pectoral fins are long and pointed.

Also the livery is typical, with 7-11 vertical black bands on the silvery body with golden hues. The iris of the eye is yellow.

Naming

The name of the genus comes from the Greek “diplus” = double, and “odous” = tooth, therefore, “double tooth” with reference to the double incisors, like for the horses.

The name of the species recalls the pointed snout.

Distribution

It is present in all the Mediterranean, Black Sea included, and, after Gibraltar Strait, it is met on the eastern Atlantic coast, from the Biscay Gulf up to South Africa, including the Cape Verde and Canary Islands.

Habitat

Benthopelagic marine species. Gregarious species living in coastal waters on rocky or sandy bottoms, up to 1 50 m (only occasionally over 50 m). Younger individuals can also be found in brackish waters and may live in littoral pools (sometimes in brackish waters and lagoons), the adults often occur in the surf zone.

Reproduction

The Diplodus puntazzo is a protandric hermaphrodite species: in some cases the males become, on a temporary basis, females. It reproduces by late summer, early autumn, through countless pelagic 0,85 mm eggs which generate 1,7 mm larvae. Between December and March, the youngs reach the 5 cm and get in schools the coasts entering, at times, the estuaries. In this way they adapt to several salinities, and this euryhaline characteristic will stay with them for all their life.

Food

The sharpsnout seabream nourishes of the small organisms living among the seaweeds attached to the stones: crustaceans, annelids and molluscs, which it cleverly takes off using its powerful incisors as if the were a chisel.
It is, therefore, a carnivorous diet which it integrates with yummy seaweeds.