The Sparidae are a family of fish in the order Perciformes, commonly called sea breams and porgies.
The sheepshead, scup, and red seabream are species in this family.
Most sparids are deep-bodied compressed fish with a small mouth separated by a broad space from the eye, a single dorsal fin with strong spines and soft rays, a short anal fin, long pointed pectoral fins and rather large firmly attached scales.Bray, D. J. & Gomon, M. F. (2012): Breams, SPARIDAE, in Fishes of Australia http://www.fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/family/129 They are found in shallow temperate and tropical waters and are bottom-dwelling carnivores.
There are hermaphrodites in the Sparidae.
Protogyny and protandry appear sporadically through this lineage of fish.
Simultaneous hermaphrodites and bi-directional hermaphrodites do not appear as much since Sparidae are found in shallower waters.
Species of fish that express a hermaphroditic condition usually "lack a genetic hardwire", therefore ecological factors play a role in sex determination.
Most species possess grinding, molar-like teeth.
Eating the head is known to cause hallucinations, lasting many days.
Some of the species, such as Polysteganus undulosus, have been subject to overfishing, or exploitation beyond sustainable recovery.Hogan, C. M. (2010): Overfishing.
Encyclopedia of Earth.
National Council for Science and the Environment.
Genera
The family Sparidae contains about 155 species in 38 genera:
Acanthopagrus	Peters, 1855
Amamiichthys Tanaka & Iwatsuki, 2015
Archosargus Gill, 1865
Argyrops Swainson, 1839
Argyrozona Smith, 1938
Boops	Cuvier, 1814
Boopsoidea Castelnau, 1861
Calamus Swainson, 1839
Centracanthus Rafinesque, 1810
Cheimerius Smith, 1938
Chrysoblephus Swainson, 1839
Crenidens Valenciennes, 1830
Cymatoceps Smith, 1938
Dentex Cuvier, 1814
Diplodus Rafinesque, 1810
Evynnis Jordan & Thompson, 1912
Gymnocrotaphus Günther, 1859
Lagodon Holbrook, 1855
Lithognathus Swainson, 1839
Oblada Cuvier, 1829
Pachymetopon Günther, 1859
Pagellus Valenciennes, 1830
Pagrus Cuvier, 1816
Parargyrops Tanaka, 1916
Petrus Smith, 1938
Polyamblyodon Norman, 1935
Polysteganus Klunzinger, 1870
Porcostoma Smith, 1938
Pterogymnus Smith, 1938
Rhabdosargus Fowler, 1933
Sarpa Bonaparte, 1831
Sparidentex Munro, 1948
Sparodon Smith, 1938
Sparus Linnaeus, 1758
Spicara Rafinesque, 1810
Spondyliosoma Cantor, 1849
Stenotomus Gill, 1865
Virididentex Poll, 1971
Timeline of genera
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color:eocene bar:NAM1  from:	-55.8	till:	0	text:	[[Sparus]]  color:eocene bar:NAM2  from:	-55.8	till:	0	text:	[[Sargus]]  color:eocene bar:NAM3  from:	-55.8	till:	0	text:	[[Pagrus]]  color:eocene bar:NAM4  from:	-55.8	till:	0	text:	[[Dentex]]  color:eocene bar:NAM5  from:	-48.6	till:	0	text:	[[Pagellus]]  color:eocene bar:NAM6  from:	-48.6	till:	0	text:	[[Oblada]]  color:eocene bar:NAM7  from:	-37.2	till:	0	text:	[[Diplodus]]  color:oligocene bar:NAM8  from:	-33.9	till:	0	text:	[[Calamus]]  color:miocene bar:NAM9  from:	-23.03	till:	0	text:	[[Lithognathus]]  color:miocene bar:NAM10  from:	-15.97	till:	0	text:	[[Boops]]  color:miocene bar:NAM11  from:	-11.608	till:	0	text:	[[Crenidens]]
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The most celebrated of the breams in cookery are the gilt-head bream and the common dentex.Davidson, A. Mediterranean Seafood, Penguin, 1972. , pp.
86–108.
See also
Porgie fishing
References
