• Skip to main content
  • Français
Press
  • Home
  • Institute
    • Mediterranean species
      Annular seabream
      Axinella sponge
      Black scorpionfish
      Black seabream
      Black sea cucumber
      Black sea urchin
      Blacktailed wrasse
      Blotched picarel
      • About
      • › In brief
      • › Global advocacy
      • › 50+ years of history
      • The Team
      • › Organisation
      • The Aquarium
      • › About the aquarium
      • › Practical information
      • › Mediterranean species
      • › Mediterranean biotopes
      • A site in nature
      • › Les Embiez island
      • The Association
      • › Board of directors
      • › Honorary committee
      • › Become a member
  • Research
    • Research Programmes
      LIFE Pinnarca
      MaCoBios
      Posidonia oceanica seagrass m [...]
      New Innovative Feed for Susta [...]
      Environmental DNA (eDNA)
      Ich.T.O.
      Podestat
      Integrated multi-trophic aqua [...]
      • › Research programmes
      • › Research Center
      • › Scientific Communication
      • › International Cooperation
      • › Take OFF, Take Ocean For Future
  • Outreach
    • Environmental issues
      Climate
      Biodiversity
      Nature-based solutions
      Living resources
      Governance
      The Mediterranean, a model ocean
      • › Popular science
      • › Newsletter
      • › Media Library
      • › Press review
      • › Environmental issues
 › Abécédaire › Blotched picarel
Mediterranean species :

Blotched picarel

The black blotch on either side makes it easy to recognise
Did you know ?
During spawning season, which is around March in Provence, the males build octagonal nests side by side on sandy bottoms.

The blotched picarel has quite an elongated profile with a single dorsal fin and a forked caudal fin. It has a blue-grey or greenish-grey back and silvery sides sometimes scattered with small black spots. This genus has a distinctive rectangular black blotch on either side, and blue and yellow lines and dots appear during spawning periods. These fish can be up to 25 cm long and live mainly in Posidonia seagrass meadows and on sandy bottoms down to 100m below the surface. They are found in the Atlantic from Portugal to Morocco and all over the Mediterranean but very rarely in the Black Sea.

Tweet
Share
Share
0 Shares

Phylum: Vertebrates
Class: Osteichthyes
Order: Perciformes
Family: Centracanthidae
Scientific name: Spicara maena

French: Mendole or Picarel
Spanish: Chucla
Italian: Menola
German: Laxierfisch

Boarfish Prev
Blacktailed wrasse Next
Institut océanographique Paul Ricard
Île des Embiez - 83140 Six-Fours-les-Plages
Tél. +33 (0)4 94 34 02 49
  • › Partners
  • › Press
  • › Sitemap
  • › Terms & Conditions
  • › Privacy Policy
  • › Cookies Policy
  • › Credits