The Common Pandora, also known as King Of The Breams, Spanish Sea Bream or Becker, is a species in the family of Sparidae and thus belongs to the superclass of the bony fish.
Description
The Common Pandora has an elongated, laterally compressed body. Its base colour is silver with interrupted, bright blue, horizontal stripes. Mouth and eye are quiet big. The pupil is black.
It reaches a maximum length of 50cm.
Habitat and Distribution
Pagellus erythrinus usually lives above sandy ground, down to a depth of 200m.
When diving in the Canaries you can often see it.
It is also spread from the Strait of Gibraltar, via Madeira, the Canary Islands, Cape Verde, along the African coast to Guinea-Bissau. It is found in the Mediterranean Sea as well as in the Black Sea.
Biology
The Common Pandora lives solitaire or in small groups of perhaps three individuals.
It feeds on small fish, invertebrates and small crustaceans.
In its area of distribution, it partly covers large distances.
Pagellus erythrinus is a protogyne hermaphrodite. At the age of two it reach their sexual maturity as females and later become male fish. It mates from spring to autumn, which can vary from region to region. In addition, there may be two different breeding times in some regions. It reproduces in groups, which happens in the Canaries from March to June. A female can release between 30000 and 150000 eggs.