Thicklip grey mullet
Thicklip Mullet ( Chelon labrosus )
The Thicklip Mullet ( Chelon labrosus ) is a kind of mullet, which is prevalent in the Northeast Atlantic, the North Sea, the western and southern Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean.
Features
The Thicklip mullet has a characteristic of the Mullet elongated, spindle-shaped body and reaches a body length of up to 80 centimeters. The upper side flattened head has a mouth with the characteristic for this type enlarged upper lip, which is provided with fine papillae. The back is dark gray to blue, the edges are colored silver gray and has 4-5 dark longitudinal stripes.
Mullets have two dorsal fins, the first has 4 hard fin rays and the second a hard and 8-9 soft, the anal fin 3 hard and 9 to 10 soft fin rays. The pelvic fins are breast constantly.
Dissemination
The Thicklip mullet is found in the northeastern Atlantic from Norway, the North Sea and the United Kingdom as well as the western and southern Baltic Sea to West Africa in the area of Senegal and the Cape Verde and Canary Islands and in the Mediterranean.
Way of life
Mullets live as pronounced shoaling fish in coastal areas, where they occasionally penetrate into lagoons and estuaries. They are mainly there to be found in the summer in the field of surface and graze close to the ground nursery algae and invertebrates from. In the winter they retreat into deeper layers and provide the food intake a large extent.
The spawning season falls in the Mediterranean in the winter and in more northern areas in the spring. The eggs are released into the open water and float on the basis of the stored oil droplets in the surface water. The age of this type can be up to 9 years old.
Relevance to humans
Mullets are popular food fish that are caught in the open sea and kept in aquaculture.