1. Mostly found in the Western Mediterranean
(west of Straits of Sicily)
Alopius superciliosus - bigeye thresher shark
Alosa alosa - Allis shad
Solea senegalensis - Senegalese sole
Pagellus bogaraveo - blackspot seabream
2. North Mediterranean only
Gymnammodytes cicerellus - Mediterranean sand eel
Sprattus sprattus - sprat
Trisopterus minutus capelanus - poor cod
Thunnus alalunga - albacore
3. South Mediterranean only
Aleutis alexandrinus - Alexandria pompano
Orcynopsis unicolor - plain bonito
Epinephelus aeneus - white grouper
4. Everywhere except Levant
Brama brama - Atlantic pomphret
Caranx hippos - crevelle jack
5. Black Sea only
Alosa caspia - Caspian shad
Sturgeons (mainly Black Sea, except one in Adriatic)
Clupeonella cultiventris - Black Sea sprat
6. Bathypelagic
(only in deep basins)
Grenadiers (Macrouridae)
Lantern fish (Myctophidae)
7. Red Sea immigrants
(only found in SE Levant region)
Dussumieria acuta - rainbow sardine
Leiognathus klunzingeri - ponyfish
Upeneus asymmetricus - golden striped goatfish
Scomberomorus commerson - narrowband spanish mackerel
In addition, two groups of species encompass many of the more important commercial species:
8. Ubiquitous pelagic species, independent of depth
(mostly absent from Black Sea)
Prionace glauca - blue shark
Lamna nasus - porbeagle
Pomatomus saltatrix - blue fish
Euthynnus alletteratus - little tunny
Sarda sarda - Atlantic bonito
Scomber spp - mackerels
Thunnus thynnus - bluefin tuna
Coryphaena hippurus - common dolphinfish
9. Continental shelf species, found almost everywhere
(mostly absent from Black Sea)
Scyliorhinus stellaris - nurse hound
Squatina squatina - angel shark
Trachurus trachurus - Atlantic horse mackerel
Spicara maena - blotched picarel
Sardinella aurita - round sardinella
Lophius piscatorius - angler
Merluccius merluccius - hake
Dicentrarchus labrax - European sea bass
Mullus barbatus - red mullet
Mullus surmuletus - striped red mullet
Psetta maxima - turbot
Solea vulgaris - common sole
Boops boops - bogue
Dentex dentex - common dentex
Pagellus erythrinus - common pandora