Fish of the Spicara genus of the Sparidae (sea breams or porgies) family of the superfamily Percoidea of the Percoidei suborder of the Perciformes order of the Acanthopterygii superorder.
(Blotched picarel. Photo © coudouliere.fr)
Blotched picarel (Spicara maena) was first described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778).
It inhabits the depth of 30-130 meters. It is a pelagic coastal species. The maximum recorded length is 25 cm, specimens up to 14 cm long are more common. It feeds on zooplankton.
(Blotched picarel. Photo by © Stefano Guerrieri. commons.wikimedia.org)
It is a permanent inhabitant of the Adriatic Sea.
Names of blotched picarel (Spicara maena) in other languages as follows:
Maridha e zezë (Albanian), Петнист пикарел (Petnist pikarel) (Bulgarian), Μένουλα (Menulja) (Greek), Chucla (Spanish), Menola (Italian), Maena (German), Pysoń wygrzbiecony (Polish), Chucla (Portuguese), Средиземноморская смарида (Sredizemnomorskaja smarida) (Russian), Modrak (Serbian, Croatian, Slovenian), Beyazgöz balığı (Turkish), Mendole (French).