garrick

Open encyclopedia reference

The leerfish or garrick (Lichia amia) is a species of marine fish in the family Trachinotidae. It is the only extant member of the genus Lichia. It is native to much of the eastern Atlantic Ocean, from the Mediterranean and western Black Sea, north to France, and south along the coastal waters of western Africa, reaching as far south as eastern South Africa. They are an important species in coastal recreational fisheries, especially in Africa.

These fish can reach 1.5 m in length and more than 30 kg in weight. They inhabit the coastal wave zone where they form small shoals to hunt other smaller fish, favouring mullets. In South Africa, they primarily breed in estuaries and move to marine environments after maturation.

Wikipedia contributors, Leerfish; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T02:28:21.817136+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Lichia amia (Linnaeus, 1758)

Name authority

(Linnaeus, 1758)

Common name

garrick

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Teleostei

Order

Carangiformes

Family

Carangidae

Genus

Lichia

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. orderCarangiformes
11. familyCarangidae Rafinesque, 1815
12. genusLichia Cuvier, 1816
13. speciesLichia amia (Linnaeus, 1758)

Close classified relatives

No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.

Browse 111 records assigned to Carangidae.

Names & synonyms

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

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=126810 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. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

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:6PXRB. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.