Annular Seabream
Diplodus annularis
Saddled Seabream
Oblada melanurus
About
The saddled seabream is a common, gregarious reef fish named for the bold dark patch near its tail, often seen moving in loose groups over rock and seagrass.
How to tell it apart
Several grey, silver-barred fish share reef habitat with this species. The giveaway is a large black saddle patch edged in white sitting on the tail base, a marking that does not change with the fish's colour.
Appearance
The body is oblong and slightly flattened side to side, with a sharply pointed snout and a low, fleshy-lipped mouth. Colour is grey with a silvery sheen, darker on the back, with narrow dark bars running down the flanks. The dorsal and tail fins are pale yellow or pink, and the other fins are dark.
Habitat
Lives over rocky ground and in seagrass and seaweed beds, across the eastern Atlantic from the Bay of Biscay to Angola, and throughout the Mediterranean and the southern Black Sea.
Behaviour
It swims in loose groups and feeds on small invertebrates as well as some plant matter. Most fish start life as one sex and the larger, older individuals are female.
Did you know?
In September 2023 this normally harmless fish was reported nibbling at swimmers with warts, moles, or cuts on their skin.
Log it in Into the Blue
Describe what you saw and we name it, then keep every species you find in your Oceandex.
