Palomine

Pompano

  Cold and temperate sea fish

Palomine

Identity card

Pompano

Scientific name:
Trachinotus ovatus
Family:
Carangidae
Class:
Actinopterygii
Phylum:
Chordata
Year of description:
Linnaeus, 1758
IUCN Status:
Least Concern
Distribution:

Eastern Atlantic, Mediterranean Sea.

Habitat:

Between 15 and 200 metres, above sandy bottoms.

Size:

Approximately 30 cm, up to 70 cm.

Diet:

Poissons, petits crustacés et mollusques.

Palomine
 

The palomine is a species of trevally.

Florent, Head of the Temperate Zone

Did you know?

Where can I find it?

  • The pompano is a bony fish that swims in open water and is sometimes seen in estuaries. It lives above sandy bottoms, between 15 and 200 metres deep.
  • The young swim in shallow waters, near rocky coasts. 

How can you recognise it?

  • The body of the pompano is oval, compressed laterally; the back is pale blue-green with a whitish belly and the sides are shiny and silvery.
  • Its head is rounded with a small mouth.
  • The tips of its fins are black, and its caudal fin is highly bifurcated with pointed lobes, which is characteristic of this species of fast swimmers. The body has a hydrodynamic shape.

What makes it special?

  • The pompano reproduces during the summer, between July and August. The eggs are pelagic.
  • It lives in shoals. Swimming at depths of between 50 and 200 metres, its grey-blue colour protects it from predators.
  • Hunting in groups, it targets shoals of pelagic fish such as anchovies or molluscs such as squid.

Where can I find it at Nausicaá?

Mankind and shores

Palomine

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