Common dentex
| Dentex dentex | |
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| Dentex dentex | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Perciformes |
| Suborder: | Percoidei |
| Superfamily: | Percoidea |
| Family: | Sparidae |
| Genus: | Dentex |
| Species: | D. dentex |
| Binomial name | |
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Dentex dentex (Linnaeus, 1758) |
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| Distribution Map | |
Common dentex (Dentex dentex) is a species of Sparidae fish.
Genus and species Latin name Dentex is related to dentēs which means "teeth".
Adult dentex can reach a length of more than one metre (3 ft), and weight up to 20 kg (44 lb). Body is oval and compressed. Teeth are very developed in each jaw. Dentex have 11 dorsal spines: 11–12 dorsal soft rays; 3 anal spines: 7–9 anal soft rays. Adults are grey-blue, while young dentex have a slightly different livery, brown-blue with blue fins.
Dentex is an active predator, feeding on other fish, mollusca and cephalopods. It is solitary for most of the year, but during reproduction it lives in groups for some weeks: fully-grown dentex stay together just two to three weeks during spring in the warmer water near the surface.
Dentex is common in the Mediterranean Sea, but also seen in the Black Sea and the Eastern Atlantic Ocean from the British Isles to Mauretania, sometimes up to Senegal and Canary Islands. It lives in sandy or stony deeps, from just some metres/feet to 200 m (700 ft).
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