Author: (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1817)

Orcynopsis unicolor (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1817)

Diagnosis: body relatively short and deep, strongly compressed. Mouth rather large, upper jaw reaching to hind margin of eye. Two tooth patches on upper surface of tongue. Gillrakers 12-17, usually 14-16. Dorsal fins close together, the first (spiny) short and high (12-14 spines) and almost straight in outline. Pectoral fins short (21-23 rays). Interpelvic process small and bifid. Body naked behind well developed corselet, except for a band of scales along the bases of the dorsal fins and patches of scales around the bases of the pectoral and pelvic fins. Caudal peduncle with a well developed median keel between the two smaller keels on each side. Bony keels on caudal peduncle vertebrae low and poorly developed. Right lobe of liver much longer than central and left lobes. Intestine folded. Vertebrae 18 + 20 = 38. Colour: back blue black with a faint mottled pattern laterally but no prominent stripes or spots; anterior three-quarters of first dorsal fin black. Size: to 130 cm fork length, 13.1 kg, common to 70 cm.

Habitat: epipelagic in coastal waters. Apparently not schooling, usually taken singly or a few at a time. Food: small fishes, especially sardines and anchovies. Reproduction: spawning takes place in the Mediterranean from July to September.

Distribution: an eastern Atlantic endemic whose range is concentrated along the Mediterranean coast of Africa north to Israel and Lebanon. It occurs sporadically in the north-central Mediterranean with records from Nice, Genoa, Sicily, Malta and the Adriatic Sea. There are three records from Scandinavian waters. Elsewhere, the range extends south along the Atlantic coast of Africa to Senegal.

Eggs, larvae and young stages. A figure of a very young specimen in Soljan, 1948 (1963): fig. p. 148. A good figure (in colour) of a young specimen (15 cm) in Lozano Rey, 1952: pl. 41, fig. 3.
Otoliths (sagitta). No data.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Subphylum Vertebrata
Superclass Gnathostomata
Class Osteichthyes
Order Perciformes
Suborder Scombroidei
Family Scombridae
Genus Orcynopsis
Species Orcynopsis unicolor

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Orcynopsis unicolor (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1817)

Scientific synonyms and common names

Orcynopsis unicolor (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1817)

Synonyms:

Scomber unicolor E. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1817, in Description de l'Égypte, Hist. naturelle, pl. 24 (fig. 6). The text, p. 331, is from I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire and has been published in 1827 ('Méditerranée').
Cybium bonaparti Verany, 1846, Atti ottava riunione Sci. ital., Genova: 492.
Cybium altipinne Guichenot, in Duméril, 1861, Archives du Museum, 10: 260 (nomen nudum). The type of altipinne, MNHN no. A 5797, is in good condition (length about 40 cm). It is impossible to discover why Duméril has attributed the name of the species to Guichenot (Heudelot coll., Senegal).
Pelamys bonaparte: Moreau, 1881: 434.
Orcynopsis unicolor: Smitt, 1893: 102, fig. 29 Chabanaud & Monod, 1927: 278-279, fig. 30B Le Gall, 1934: fiche no. 287 Soljan, 1948 (transl. 1963): 147, fig. p. 148 Fraser-Brunner, 1950: 148, fig. 14 Lozano Rey, 1952: 528, pl. 40 (fig. 1), pl. 41 (fig. 2-3) Dieuzeide et al., 1955: 145, fig. Dollfus, 1955: 141 Postel, 1956 Tortonese, 1958: 330 Zarov et al., 1961: 55, fig. 32 Bini, 1965: l91a, fig.; 1968, 6: 39 40, col. fig. Wheeler, 1969: 393, fig. 131.
Sarda unicolor: Fowler, 1936: 624, fig. 283.
Cybium altipinne: Collette, 1966: 370.


Common names:

palamita bianca [It]
palomète [Fr]
plain bonito [En]
qalaqt [Ar
tasarte [Es]

Bini, G. 1965. Catalogue des noms de poissons, mollusques et crustacés d'importance commerciale en Méditerranée. Vito Bianco (FAO), Rome, xv+407 pp., 587 fig.

Bini, G. 1967-1972. Atlante dei pesci delle Coste italiane. Mondo Sommerso, Milano, 9 vol: I, 1967, Leptocardi, Ciclostomi, Selaci, 206 pp., 66 fig. + 64 col. fig. II, 1971, Osteitti (Acipenseriformi, Clupeiformi, Mictofiformi, Anguilliformi), 300 pp., 73 col. fig. III, 1970, Notacantiformi . . . Zeiformi, 229 pp., 34 fig. + 63 col. fig. IV, 1968, Perciformi (Mugiloidei, Percoidei), 163 pp., 34 fig. + 49 col. fig. V, 1968, Perciformi (Percoidei), 175 pp., 22 fig. + 56 col. fig. VI, 1968, Perciformi (Trichiuroidei . . . Blennioidei), 177 pp., 48 fig + 57 col. fig. VII,1969, Perciformi (Ofidioidei . . . Dactilopteroidei), 196 pp., 57 fig. + 59 col. fig. VIII,1968, Pleuronettiformi, Echeniformi, Gobioesociformi, Tetraodontiformi, Lofiformi, 164 pp., 34 + 63 fig. IX, 1972, Introduzione. Parte generale. Aggiornamenti. Indici. 176 p.

Chabanaud, P.; Monod, Th. 1927. Les Poissons de Port-Étienne, contribution à la faune ichthyologique de la Région du Cap Blanc (Mauritanie Francaise). Bull. Com. Étud. hist. scient. Afr. occid. fr., 1926, 9: pp. 225-287, 33 fig., 3 pl.

Collette, B. B. 1966. Revue critique des types de Scombridae des collections du Museum national d'Histoire naturelle de Paris. Bull Mus. Hist. nat., Paris, (2) 38 (4): 362-375.

Dieuzeide, R.; Novella, M. (collab. J. Roland), 1953-1955. Catalogue des Poissons des Côtes algériennes. Bull. Stn Aquic. Pêch. Castiglione, I (n.s.), (4), 1952 [1953]: pp. 1-135, 73 fig. n. num.; II (n.s.), (5), 1953 [1954]: pp. 1-258, 135 fig. n. num.; III (n.s.), (6), 1954 [1955]: pp. 1-384, 202 fig. n. num.

Dollfus, R. Ph. 1955. Première contribution à l'établissement d'un fichier ichthyologique du Maroc atlantique de Tanger à l'embouchure de l'Oued Dra. Trav. Inst. scient. chérif., Zool, (6): 227 pp., 1 map.

Duméril, A. H. A. 1861b. Reptiles et poissons de l'Afrique occidentale. Étude précédée de considérations générales sur leur distribution géographique. Archs Mus. natn. Hist. nat., Paris, 10 :137-268, pl. XIII-XXIII.

Fowler, H. W. 1936. The Marine Fishes of West Africa, based on the collection of the American Museum Congo Expedition 1909-1915. Bull. am. Mus. nat. Hist., 70 (1), Jan. 21, 1936: pp. vii+1-606, fig. 1-275; (2), Nov. 18, 1936: pp. 607-1493, fig. 276-567.

Fraser-Brunner, A. 1950a. The fishes of the family Scombridae. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist., (12), 3 (25): pp. 131-163, 35 fig.

Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, E. 1817. Poissons de la Mer Rouge et de la Méditerranée in Description de l'Égypte . . ., Paris, Planches Histoire Naturelle, 1, Poissons, pl. 18-27.

Le Gall, J. 1934. Germo alalunga, Euthynnus alleteratus, Katsuwonus pelamys, Orcynopsis unicolor, Sarda sarda, Auxis thazard. In: L. Joubin, ed., Faune ichthyol. Atlant. N., Copenhagen: fiches 282-283, fiches 286-289.

Lozano y Rey, L. 1952. Peces fisoclistos, Subserie Toracicos. Mems R. Acad. Cienc. exact. fis. nat. Madr., ser.: Cien. nat., Primate parte, 14: pp. xv+1-378, fig. 1-20, pl. I-XXX; Segunda parte, 14: pp. 379-705, fig. 21-31, pl. XXI-LI.

Moreau, E. 1881-1891. Histoire naturelle des poissons de la France, Paris, I, 1881: pp. I-VII+1-480, fig. 1-82; II, 1881: pp. 1-572, fig. 83-145; III, 1881: pp. 1-697, fig. 146-220; Suppl., 1891: pp. 1-144, fig. 221-227.

Postel, E. 1956a. Essai sur la Palomette Orcynopsis unicolor (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire 1809). Bull. Inst. fr. Afr. noire, Dakar, (A) 18 (4): 1220-1248, 12 fig.

Smitt, F. A. 1893-1895. (ed.) A history of Scandinavian fishes, Stockholm and Paris, Atlas, I, 1893, pl. i-xxvii.

Soljan, T. 1948. Fauna i flora jadrana. 1. Ribe Inst. Oceanogr. Ribarst. Jugoslavia. Zagreb, Hrvatske, 437 pp., 1350 fig.

Tortonese, E. 1958b. Elenco dei Leptocardi, Ciclostomi, Pesci cartilaginei ed ossei del Mare Mediterraneo. Atti Soc. ital. Sci. nat., 97 (4): pp. 309-345.

Vérany, J. B. 1847. Aggiunta al catalogo de' pesci della Liguria. Atti ottava riunione degli Scienziati italiani, Genova, 1846: pp. 492-494.

Wheeler, A. 1969. The Fishes of the British Isles and North-West Europe. Macmillan, London, Melbourne and Toronto: pp. i-xvii+1-163, 5+177 fig., 392 fig. (princ. sp.), 92 n. num. fig., 16 pl., maps.

Zarov, V. L.; Karpetchenko, I. L.; Martinsen, G. V. 1961. [Le thon et les objectifs de l'industrie thonière]. Inst. Rech. sci. pêches mar. océano.URSS(VNIRO), Moscou, 43 fig., 4 pl. (in russian).

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