Sealife guideThe picarelSpicara smaris

Taxonomy

Common name: Picarel
French name: Picarel, jarret
Spanish name: Caramel
Scientific name: Spicara smaris (Linnaeus, 1758)
Family name: Sparidae
Order name: Perciformes
Class name: Actinopterygii

Description

The picarel has a spindle-shaped silvery body with dark brown vertical stripes and a characteristic quasi-rectangular black spot in the middle of its flanks.

The picarel (Spicara smaris) © Serg_dibrova | Dreamstime.com

Range

The picarel lives in both Mediterranean and Black Sea waters.

Did you know ?

The picarel is listed as many other marine species within The IUCN Red List of threatened species. The picarel appears in the IUCN Red List since 2014 within the category Least Concern !

Within the same genus

Blotched picarel
(Spicara maena)

Within the same family

Sheepshead porgy
(Calamus penna)

Saucereye porgy
(Calamus calamus)

Yellowfin bream
(Acanthopagrus australis)

Australasian snapper
(Pagrus auratus)

Gilt-head sea bream
(Sparus aurata)

Sheepshead
(Archosargus probatocephalus)

Common two-banded seabream
(Diplodus vulgaris)

Roman seabream
(Chrysoblephus laticeps)

Explore also

Indian anchovy
(Stolephorus indicus)

Longfin batfish
(Platax teira)

Powder blue tang
(Acanthurus leucosternon)

Black scorpionfish
(Scorpaena porcus)

Glasseye snapper
(Heteropriacanthus cruentatus)

Arctic shanny
(Stichaeus punctatus)

Skipjack tuna
(Katsuwonus pelamis)

Humpback red snapper
(Lutjanus gibbus)

The marine species from Black sea

European conger eel
(Conger conger)

Picarel
(Spicara smaris)

Thornback ray
(Raja clavata)

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