Pagrus

Genus of fishes

Pagrus

Temporal range: Early Eocene to Present[1]

Pagrus pagrus
Scientific classification
Domain:  | Eukaryota
Kingdom:  | Animalia
Phylum:  | Chordata
Class:  | Actinopterygii
Order:  | Spariformes
Family:  | Sparidae
Genus:  | Pagrus
Cuvier, 1816
Type species
Sparus pagrus

Linnaeus, 1758[2]

Synonyms[2]

* Semapagrus Fowler, 1925

Red seabream (Pagrus major) Australasian snapper Red porgy

Pagrus is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Sparidae, which includes the seabreams and porgies. These fishes are found in the Western Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. They are esteemed food fishes which are targeted by commercial fisheries and are grown in aquaculture.

## Taxonomy[edit]

Pagrus was first proposed as a genus in 1816 by the French zoologist Georges Cuvier with Sparus pagrus as its type species by absolute tautonymy,[2] Sparus pagrus was first described by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae with its type locality given as the Mediterranean Sea of southern Europe.[3] This genus is placed in the family Sparidae within the order Spariformes by the 5th edition of Fishes of the World.[4] Some authorities classify this genus in the subfamily Sparinae,[5] but the 5th edition of Fishes of the World does not recognise subfamilies within the Sparidae.[4]

## Species[edit]

Pagrus contains at least six described species:[6]

* Pagrus africanus (Akazaki, 1962) (Southern common seabream)
* Pagrus auratus (Forster, 1801) (Silver seabream or Australasian snapper)
* Pagrus auriga (Valenciennes, 1843) (Redbanded seabream )
* Pagrus caeruleostictus (Valenciennes, 1830) (Bluespotted seabream)
* Pagrus major (Temminck & Schlegel, 1843) (Red seabream )
* Pagrus pagrus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Common seabream or red porgy)

Catalog of Fishes recognises five species within the genus as it classifies P. auratus in the monospecific genus Chrysophrys Quoy & Gaimard, 1824.[3] This is not followed by FishBase[6] but is accepted by other authorities.[5][7]

## Etymology[edit]

Pagrus is tautonymous from Sparus pagrus, the name pagrus comes from a Greek word for seabreams that dates at least to the time of Aristotle.[8]

## Characteristics[edit]

Pagrus seabreams are characterised by having oblong, compressed bodies with deep heads which have rounded dorsal profiles. The rear nostril is oblong, the front nostril is a slit. The moderately protrusible mouth is small, horizontal and the end of the maxilla is overlapped by the suborbital bone. There are two rows of teeth in the jaws, the front row is made up of between 6 and 6 sharp, canine-like teeth with molar-like teeth to the rear of them. The margin of the preoperculum is smooth. The dorsal fin is low and is supported by 12 spines while the anal fin is short-based and is supported by 3 short spines and 8 soft rays> The long pectoral fins are clearly longer than the pelvic fins. The cheeks and gill covers are scaled but there are no scales on the snout or between the eyes and the mouth. There are between 48 and 60 scales in the lateral line and there no large blotch at its origin.[9][10] The largest species in the genus is P. auratus with a maximum published total length of 130 cm (51 in), while the smallest is P. africanus with a maximum published total length of 75 cm (30 in).[6]

## Distribution and habitat[edit]

Pagrus seabreams are found in the Atlantic Ocean, where P. pagrus occurs on both sides of the Ocean and in the Mediterranean, while the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea have two other native species, P. auriga and P. caeruleostictus. P. africanus is found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean off West Africa. The remaining two species are found in the Western Pacific Ocean.[6] However, P. major has been introduced into the Mediterranean probably as a result of escapes from aquaculture.[11] These fishes prefer hard bottoms but may be found in estuaries.[10]

## Biology[edit]

Pagrus seabreams are carnivores, using their crushingh molars to feed on molluscs and crustaceans but they have also been found to eat softer bodied prey such as cephalopods and fishes.[10] P. pagrus and P. caeruleostictus are at least partial protogynous hermaphrodites.[12][13]

## Fisheries[edit]

Pagrus seabreams are valued as food fishes, as well as being used to produce fish meal and fish oil, and are targeted by fisheries wherever they occur. They are also used in aquaculture in both Japan[14] and the Mediterranean.[11]

## References[edit]

1. ^ Sepkoski, Jack (2002). "A compendium of fossil marine animal genera". Bulletins of American Paleontology. 364: 560. Retrieved 2007-12-25.
2. ^ a b c Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Sparidae". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
3. ^ a b Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Pagrus". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
4. ^ a b Nelson, J.S.; Grande, T.C.; Wilson, M.V.H. (2016). Fishes of the World (5th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 502–506. doi:10.1002/9781119174844. ISBN 978-1-118-34233-6. LCCN 2015037522. OCLC 951899884. OL 25909650M.
5. ^ a b Parenti, P. (2019). "An annotated checklist of the fishes of the family Sparidae". FishTaxa. 4 (2): 47–98.
6. ^ a b c d Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2023). Species of Pagrus in FishBase. October 2023 version.
7. ^ Gomon, M.F. & Bray, D.J. (2022). "Chrysophrys". Fishes of Australia. Museums Victoria. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
8. ^ Christopher Scharpf (12 January 2024). "Order ACANTHURIFORMES (part 6): Families GERREIDAE, LETHRINIDAE, NEMIPTERIDAE and SPARIDAE". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
9. ^ "Genus: Pagrus, Porgies, Red Porgy". Shorefishes of the Greater Caribbean online information system. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
10. ^ a b c Kent E. Carpenter (2016). "Sparidae". In Carpenter, K.E. and De Angelis, N. (eds.). The living marine resources of the Eastern Central Atlantic Volume 2 Bony fishes part 2 (Perciformes to Tetradontiformes) and Sea turtles (PDF). FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes. Rome: FAO. pp. 2567–2620. ISBN 978-92-5-109267-5.
11. ^ a b Thodoros E. Kampouris; Panagiotis S. Economidis; and Ioannis E. Batjakas (2020). "First record of Pagrus major (Temminck & Schlegel, 1843) (Perciformes: Sparidae) from east Mediterranean Sea and the northernmost Mediterranean record of Por's goatfish Upeneus pori Ben-Tuvia & Golani, 1989 (Perciformes: Mullidae) from Thermaikos Gulf, NorthWest Aegean Sea, Greece". Cahiers de Biologie Marine. 61: 253–258. doi:10.21411/CBM.A.F4BCFF17.
12. ^ Rania F. Ismail; Mona M. Mourad; Mahmoud M.S. Farrag (2018). "Gonadal development and hermaphroditism of bluespotted seabream, Pagrus caeruleostictus (Valenciennes, 1830) from the Mediterranean Sea, Egypt". The Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Research. 44 (2): 163–171. doi:10.1016/j.ejar.2018.05.003. ISSN 1687-4285.
13. ^ Charles S. Manooch III and William W. Hassler (1978). Synopsis of Biological Data on the Red Porgy, Pagrus pagrus (Linnaeus) (PDF) (Report). NOAA Technical Report NMFS Circular. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Marine Fisheries Service.
14. ^ Kato, K. (2023). "Breeding studies on red sea bream Pagrus major: mass selection to genome editing". Fisheries Science. 89: 103–119. doi:10.1007/s12562-022-01668-0.

Taxon identifiers

Pagrus|

* Wikidata: Q432412
* Wikispecies: Pagrus
* ADW: Pagrus
* BOLD: 3472
* CoL: 63JMB
* GBIF: 2374952
* iNaturalist: 90612
* ITIS: 169206
* NBN: NHMSYS0020930329
* NCBI: 8172
* NZOR: f88c1204-0684-4145-9c8b-701e276f9d4f
* Open Tree of Life: 760711
* Paleobiology Database: 36109
* WoRMS: 126080

Authority control databases: National |

* Israel

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