Brown meagre

Brown meagre
Sciaena umbra
Not evaluated (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Perciformes
Family: Sciaenidae
Genus: Sciaena
Species: S. umbra
Binomial name
Sciaena umbra
Linnaeus, 1758
Synonyms

Bairdiella umbra Linnaeus, 1758
Coracinus chalcis Pallas, 1814
Corvina canariensis Cuvier, 1830
Corvina nigra misapplied name
Corvina umbra Linnaeus, 1758
Johnius nigra misapplied name
Johnius umbra Linnaeus, 1758
Sciaena nigra Bloch, 1792

Brown meagre (Sciaena umbra) is a species of croaker found in Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea occurring in shallow waters and sandy bottoms around Turkey, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania, Georgia and Russia.

It can grow up to 50 cm length and 7kg weight. Fish has a big round hand with somewhat pointy mouth and an egg shaped body. The tail has a straight back with a black border.

It feeds off the small fishes and crustaceans. They are capable of creating sound using some muscles under their well developed swim bladder. This is their way of communication since they have a very good hearing ability. They can manage their buoyancy perfectly.

Sold fresh or frozen across fish markets in Turkey. Fish's otoliths are ground and used for urinary infections by local people. It's a territorial fish who does not migrate. The fishing of this species was banned in Turkey until 2007 for protection. Since then it is open to sport fishing up to 5 kg.

References

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