You can sponsor this page

Lithognathus mormyrus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Sand steenbras
Add your observation in Fish Watcher
Native range | All suitable habitat | Point map | Year 2050
This map was computer-generated and has not yet been reviewed.
Lithognathus mormyrus   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
Upload your photos and videos
 Pictures | Google image
Image of Lithognathus mormyrus (Sand steenbras)
Lithognathus mormyrus
Picture by Patzner, R.

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Eupercaria/misc (Various families in series Eupercaria) > Sparidae (Porgies)
Etymology: Lithognathus: Greek, lithos = stone + Greek, gnathos = jaw (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Linnaeus.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; brackish; demersal; depth range 0 - 150 m (Ref. 3688), usually 10 - 20 m (Ref. 37413). Subtropical; 48°N - 35°S, 25°W - 36°E

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Eastern Atlantic: Bay of Biscay, Strait of Gibraltar and Mediterranean; southward to Cape of Good Hope, South Africa; around the Canary and Cape Verde Islands (Ref. 3688); and Madeira Is (Ref. 74541). Western Indian Ocean: southern Mozambique (Ref. 3688). Not found in tropical east Africa (Ref. 3198), Red Sea (Ref. 84159) and Black Sea (Ref. 4781, 112870).

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm 17.4, range 20 - ? cm
Max length : 55.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 3397); common length : 30.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 3688); max. reported age: 12 years (Ref. 13716)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 11; Dorsal soft rays (total): 12 - 13; Anal spines: 3; Anal soft rays: 10 - 11.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Found on the shelf, over sandy and muddy bottoms as well as seagrass-beds and estuaries. Gregarious, sometimes forming sizeable schools. Feeds on worms, mollusks and small crustaceans. Protandric hermaphrodite (Ref. 3688). Flesh excellent (Ref. 3198); sold fresh and dried.

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturities | Reproduction | Spawnings | Egg(s) | Fecundities | Larvae

A monandric species (Ref. 55367). In the northern Adriatic, overall male to female ratio was 1:1.62. Sex inversion occurred mainly between 24.1 and 35.2 cm TL and 3.5 years of age (Ref. 55367). Conflicting descriptions of the reproductive style of this species have been reported, including possible gonochorism (Ref. 103751). Also Ref. 28504.

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Bauchot, M.-L. and J.-C. Hureau, 1990. Sparidae. p. 790-812. In J.C. Quero, J.C. Hureau, C. Karrer, A. Post and L. Saldanha (eds.) Check-list of the fishes of the eastern tropical Atlantic (CLOFETA). JNICT, Lisbon; SEI, Paris; and UNESCO, Paris. Vol. 2. (Ref. 3688)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 16 August 2009

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: minor commercial; gamefish: yes
FAO - Fisheries: landings; Publication: search | FIRMS - Stock assessments | FishSource | Sea Around Us

More information

Trophic ecology
Food items
Diet compositions
Food consumptions
Food rations
Predators
Ecology
Ecology
Population dynamics
Growths
Max. ages / sizes
Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
Length-frequencies
Mass conversions
Recruitments
Abundances
Life cycle
Reproduction
Maturities
Fecundities
Spawnings
Spawning aggregations
Egg(s)
Egg developments
Larvae
Larval dynamics
Distribution
Countries
FAO areas
Ecosystems
Occurrences
Introductions
BRUVS - Videos
Anatomy
Gill areas
Brains
Otoliths
Physiology
Body compositions
Nutrients
Oxygen consumptions
Swimming type
Swimming speeds
Visual pigment(s)
Fish sounds
Diseases / Parasites
Toxicities (LC50s)
Genetics
Genetics
Electrophoreses
Heritabilities
Human related
Aquaculture systems
Aquaculture profiles
Strains
Ciguatera cases
Stamps, coins, misc.
Outreach
Collaborators
Taxonomy
Common names
Synonyms
Morphology
Morphometrics
Pictures
References
References

Tools

Bio-Quiz | E-book | Field guide | Length-frequency wizard | Life-history tool | Point map | Classification Tree | Catch-MSY |

Special reports

Check for Aquarium maintenance | Check for Species Fact Sheets | Check for Aquaculture Fact Sheets

Download XML

Summary page | Point data | Common names | Photos

Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | DORIS | ECOTOX | FAO - Fisheries: landings; Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | National databases | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | Public aquariums | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 17.1 - 27.5, mean 24.4 °C (based on 224 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5625   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01202 (0.01073 - 0.01347), b=3.02 (2.99 - 3.05), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  3.5   ±0.39 se; based on food items.
Generation time: 4.8 (4.0 - 5.6) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 12 growth studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (K=0.24; tm=2).
Prior r = 0.54, 95% CL = 0.36 - 0.81, Based on 1 full stock assessment.
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Moderate vulnerability (40 of 100).
Climate Vulnerability (Ref. 125649):  Low to moderate vulnerability (31 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Medium.
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 72.3 [42.6, 133.6] mg/100g; Iron = 1.06 [0.62, 1.89] mg/100g; Protein = 19 [18, 21] %; Omega3 = 0.417 [0.289, 0.641] g/100g; Selenium = 28.2 [14.1, 49.5] μg/100g; VitaminA = 9.68 [3.47, 23.67] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.831 [0.601, 1.145] mg/100g (wet weight); based on nutrient studies.