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picarel

Spicara maena (Linnaeus, 1758)

Source-backed taxonomic record

Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.

Male Spicara maena photographed in Tuscany (Italy).
Photo by Stefano Guerrieri.

Male Spicara maena photographed in Tuscany (Italy). Photo by Stefano Guerrieri.

Etrusko25 · Public domain · Image source

Provider-generated thumbnail requested at 320 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.

Open encyclopedia reference

Spicara maena, the blotched picarel, is a species of ray-finned fish native to the eastern Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. The male grows to a maximum length of about 25 cm (10 in), and the female reaches 21 cm (8 in). This fish is fished commercially in some areas.

Wikipedia contributors, Spicara maena; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T02:30:22.506899+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name
Spicara maena (Linnaeus, 1758)
Name authority
(Linnaeus, 1758)
Common name
picarel
Rank
species
Accepted status
accepted
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Class
Teleostei
Family
Sparidae
Genus
Spicara
Extinction status
Not supplied by this source

Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

  1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
  2. kingdomAnimalia
  3. phylumChordata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. infraphylumGnathostomata
  6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
  7. gigaclassActinopterygii
  8. superclassActinopteri
  9. classTeleostei
  10. familySparidae Rafinesque, 1818
  11. genusSpicara Rafinesque, 1810
  12. speciesSpicara maena (Linnaeus, 1758)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Spicara. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

SpeciesClassificationSource status
Spicara martinicum (Valenciennes, 1830)SparidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Spicara nigricauda (Norman, 1931)SparidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
picarelSpicara smaris (Linnaeus, 1758)SparidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Spicara australe (Regan, 1921)SparidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Spicara flexuosum Rafinesque, 1810SparidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Spicara altum (Osório, 1917)SparidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Spicara axillare (Boulenger, 1900)SparidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Spicara melanurus (Valenciennes, 1830)SparidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied

Browse 124 records assigned to Sparidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Recorded nameSource status
Maena chryselis (Valenciennes, 1830) (Valenciennes, 1830)synonym
Maena jusculum Cuvier, 1829 Cuvier, 1829synonym
Maena vomerina Valenciennes, 1830 Valenciennes, 1830synonym
Merolepis chryselis (Valenciennes, 1830) (Valenciennes, 1830)synonym
Smaris gagarella Valenciennes, 1830 Valenciennes, 1830synonym
Sparus maena Linnaeus, 1758 Linnaeus, 1758synonym
Sparus tricuspidatus Spinola, 1807 Spinola, 1807synonym
Sparus zebra Brünnich, 1768 Brünnich, 1768synonym
Spicara chryselis (Valenciennes, 1830) (Valenciennes, 1830)synonym
Maena vulgaris Valenciennes, 1830 Valenciennes, 1830synonym
Maena maena (Linnaeus, 1758) (Linnaeus, 1758)synonym
Maena osbechii Valenciennes, 1830 Valenciennes, 1830synonym
Maena osbeckii Valenciennes, 1830 Valenciennes, 1830synonym
Merolepis maena (Linnaeus, 1758) (Linnaeus, 1758)synonym
Smaris maena (Linnaeus, 1758) (Linnaeus, 1758)synonym
Sparus osbeck Lacepède, 1802 Lacepède, 1802synonym
Spicara maena maena (Linnaeus, 1758) (Linnaeus, 1758)synonym
Smaris cagarella Cuvier, 1829 Cuvier, 1829synonym
Smaris chryselis Valenciennes, 1830 Valenciennes, 1830synonym

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

  1. https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=126828 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:4Z2XJ. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.