By Robin Noble (Photos by Martine Howard)
Through the last four years, we have seen a lot more fish, and Martine has become more skilful in photographing them. We think, therefore, that the time has come to provide a simple, photographic blog, listing and illustrating the fish that we see regularly, and a few rarer ones. The quality of the illustrations does, inevitably, vary somewhat, but we hope that the result will be useful. (Some of these fish vary quite a lot in colour and patterning, and the two reference sources we use do differ quite markedly at times, so we cannot guarantee 100% accuracy. Click on photos to enlarge image.)
Bream Family:
Saddled Sea Bream
White Sea Bream
Two-banded Sea Bream
Sharpsnout Sea Bream
Zebra Sea Bream
Gilt-head Sea Bream
Through the last four years, we have seen a lot more fish, and Martine has become more skilful in photographing them. We think, therefore, that the time has come to provide a simple, photographic blog, listing and illustrating the fish that we see regularly, and a few rarer ones. The quality of the illustrations does, inevitably, vary somewhat, but we hope that the result will be useful. (Some of these fish vary quite a lot in colour and patterning, and the two reference sources we use do differ quite markedly at times, so we cannot guarantee 100% accuracy. Click on photos to enlarge image.)
Bream Family:
Saddled Sea Bream
White Sea Bream
Two-banded Sea Bream
Sharpsnout Sea Bream
Zebra Sea Bream
Gilt-head Sea Bream
Mullet Family:
Red Mullet
Thicklip Grey Mullet
Salema
Damselfish
Red Mullet
Thicklip Grey Mullet
Salema
Damselfish
Blenny Family:
Tampot Blenny
Parablennius incognitus (apparently no English name)
Parablennius sanguinolentus (ditto)
Tampot Blenny
Parablennius incognitus (apparently no English name)
Parablennius sanguinolentus (ditto)
Goby Family:
Sarato’s Goby
Buchich’s Goby
Golden Goby
Sarato’s Goby
Buchich’s Goby
Golden Goby
Wrasse Family:
Rainbow Wrasse (male illustrated here)
Rainbow Wrasse (female illustrated here)
Peacock Wrasse
Rainbow Wrasse (male illustrated here)
Rainbow Wrasse (female illustrated here)
Peacock Wrasse
Painted Comber
Big-scale Sand Smelt
Big-scale Sand Smelt
In addition to these, Martine has also definitely seen Ornate Wrasse, Grouper and Barracuda, but the photos are not good enough to reproduce. (And we have, of course, also seen a few octopuses as reported in recent blogs.) There are, doubtless, other species to find, but the above list, allied with the sheer numbers seen, does at least make clear the richness of the close waters of the Mediterranean.
