Teleostei (teleosts) >
Eupercaria/misc (Various families in series Eupercaria) >
Sparidae (Porgies)
Etymology: Lithognathus: Greek, lithos = stone + Greek, gnathos = jaw (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Smith.
Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range
Ecology
Marine; benthopelagic; depth range 1 - ? m. Tropical; 13°S - 28°S
Southeast Atlantic: Angola to South Africa.
Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm 46.4  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 100.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 3198); max. published weight: 19.3 kg (Ref. 3670); max. reported age: 50 years (Ref. 37572)
Found inshore over sandy bottoms. Feeds on sand mussels, worms and crabs. Protandrous (Ref. 4332), but some specimens with both male and female gonads well-developed at the same time (Ref. 3198). Commonly fished between October and March (Ref. 36731). A popular angling fish and an important food fish.
Life cycle and mating behavior
Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae
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: Version 2025-2 (Global))
Threat to humans
Harmless
Human uses
Fisheries: commercial; gamefish: yes
Tools
Special reports
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Internet sources
Estimates based on models
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804) |
PD50 = 0.5625 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high]. |
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Bayesian length-weight
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a=0.01514 (0.00787 - 0.02912), b=3.05 (2.89 - 3.21), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species & (Sub)family-body (Ref. 93245). |
Trophic level (Ref. 69278) |
3.3 ±0.34 se; based on food items. |
Resilience (Ref. 120179) |
Low, minimum population doubling time 4.5 - 14 years (K=0.06-0.09; tm=4.8-9.7; tmax=50). |
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153) |
High to very high vulnerability (68 of 100). 🛈 |
Price category (Ref. 80766) |
Low.
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Nutrients (Ref. 124155) |
Calcium = 50.9 [26.6, 99.2] mg/100g; Iron = 0.707 [0.383, 1.290] mg/100g; Protein = 17.5 [15.7, 19.3] %; Omega3 = 0.21 [0.13, 0.35] g/100g; Selenium = 83.4 [37.5, 171.5] μg/100g; VitaminA = 21.4 [6.0, 69.9] μg/100g; Zinc = 1.07 [0.72, 1.56] mg/100g (wet weight); |