Striped seabream

Lithognathus mormyrus

Fish
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth0–36 m
Water temperature16–29 °C
Best monthsJuly and August
How commonOccasional

Photo credit: (c) Noeleen du Toit, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist

About this species

The sand steenbras or striped seabream is a species of marine fish in the family Sparidae, colloquially known as the common bastardfish for nipping at the legs of swimmers. It is found in shallow water in the Mediterranean Sea and in the eastern Atlantic Ocean from France to South Africa. It also occurs in the Red Sea and off the coast of Mozambique in the Indian Ocean. The IUCN has assessed its conservation status as being of "least concern".

Text from the Wikipedia article “Sand steenbras”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 55 records
February: 65 records
March: 81 records
April: 140 records
May: 336 records
June: 467 records
July: 806 records
August: 949 records
September: 499 records
October: 351 records
November: 130 records
December: 75 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 0–36 m · Deepest record: 287 m

0–10 m: 79 records
10–20 m: 183 records
20–30 m: 95 records
30–40 m: 30 records
40–50 m: 17 records
50–60 m: 5 records
60–70 m: 4 records
70–80 m: 1 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 6 records
110+ m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 16–29 °C

14–16 °C: 1 records
16–18 °C: 29 records
18–20 °C: 22 records
20–22 °C: 38 records
22–24 °C: 116 records
24–26 °C: 1 records
26–28 °C: 0 records
28–30 °C: 1 records

Photos

(c) Chris Taklis, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Ben Jobson, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Emil Jantke, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Juraj Ahel, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Yves Bas, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Jan Ebr & Ivana Ebrová, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Striped seabream, Sand Steenbras, Sand steenbras, Striped seabream, striped seabream, Striped sea bream

Names in 4 more languages

German: Marmorbrasse
Spanish: herrera, Herrera
French: Dorade Marbré, marbre, Marbré, Pageau Gris, Pageot
Simplified Chinese: 細條石頜鯛

Other scientific names: Pagellus goreensis, Pagellus mormyrus, Sparus mormyrus

Similar species

Australian Seabream
Acanthopagrus australis
Santer seabream
Cheimerius nufar
Englishman seabream
Chrysoblephus anglicus
Dageraad
Chrysoblephus cristiceps
Miss Lucy
Chrysoblephus gibbiceps
Roman seabream
Chrysoblephus laticeps

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
1,807 open-data records from 1758 to 2025.
Species data updated November 4, 2026.

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