Picarel

Spicara smaris grows to a maximum length of 20 cm (8 in) but a more common maximum size is 15 cm (6 in). It is a more slender fish than the closely related blotched picarel (Spicara maena) and can be distinguished from that species by having 75–81 scales along the lateral line rather than 68–70. Its back is grey-brown and it has silvery flanks with a large black spot located above the tip of the pectoral fin. Male fish are usually larger than females and have small blue spots scattered across the dorsal and anal fins.

Spicara smaris is native to the subtropical eastern Atlantic Ocean including the coasts of Portugal, the Canary Islands and Morocco, the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. It is usually found in seagrass meadows and over sandy and muddy seabeds. Its depth range is generally 15 to 170 m (49 to 558 ft) but it has been recorded at depths of 328 m (1,076 ft) in the eastern Ionian Sea.

Spicara smaris is a popular food in parts of southern Italy, Dalmatia, and Greece. In Dalmatia, salted picarel, slana gira, are popular. Picarel is one of the five most commonly caught fish in Cyprus. In Greece and Cyprus, picarel, marida, is generally battered and fried, and eaten whole, including the head, tail, and bones.