Saddled Seabream

The saddled seabream has an oblong shaped, somewhat compressed body. The dorsal profile of the head is straight and it has an elongated, sharply pointed snout with a low set horizontal, fleshy lipped mouth. The eyes are small and rear nostrils are slits. The scales on the crown do not reach past the rear margin of the eyes. The preoperculum has no scales. The teeth in the font of the flaws are small and arranged bands, the upper jaw has 3–6 rows of molars with 2 and 4 rows of molars on the lower jaw. The dorsal fin is supported by 11 or 12 spines and 11 or 12 soft rays while the anal fin contains 3 spines and 10 or 11 soft rays. The background colour is grey with silvery tints, darker on the back, with 14 or 15 vertical dark brown or grey bars along the flanks. Three is a large white-edged black saddle marking on the caudal peduncle.

The saddled seabream is found in the Eastern Atlantic where it ranges from in the Bay of Biscay, Madeira, Cape Verde, Canary Islands and Strait of Gibraltar south to Angola. It is also found in the Mediterranean, Sea of Marmara and the term southern part of the Black Sea. It is found at depths down to 30 m (98 ft) over rocky substrates and in bedside Zostera seagrass and seaweed.

The saddled seabream is valued as a food fish in the Mediterranean where 862 t (848 long tons; 950 short tons) were landed in 2005. It is fished for by both commercial and sports fishers, but it is not the target of a dedicated fishery. It is caught using beach seines, trawls, deep nets and hand lines and it is frequently for sale in fish markets throughout the northern Mediterranean. However, it is rarely offered for sale in North Africa, Israel or France and it is generally discarded by Portuguese fishers. Fish landed are sold fresh or frozen, although the flesh is not held in high esteem, and are also processed into fish meal or fish oil.