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Mugil cephalus  Linnaeus, 1758

Flathead grey mullet
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Mugil cephalus
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country information

Common names: [No common name]
Occurrence:
Salinity:
Abundance: | Ref:
Importance: | Ref:
Aquaculture: | Ref:
Regulations: | Ref:
Uses: no uses
Comments:
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Occurrences: Occurrences Point map
National Database:

Classification / Names

Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) > Mugiliformes (Mullets) > Mugilidae (Mullets)
Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | ITIS | CoL

Common names from other countries

鲻, Mulet à grosse tête, Pardete, ... more

Main reference

Harrison, I.J. 1995. (Ref. 9321)
 References | Biblio | Coordinator : Harrison, Ian | Collaborators

Size / Weight / Age

Max length : 100.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 2804); common length : 50.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 7399); max. reported age: 16 years (Ref. 28725)

Length at first maturity
 Lm 35.4, range 30 - ? cm

Environment

Marine; freshwater; brackish; benthopelagic; catadromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 0 - 120 m (Ref. 9321), usually 0 - 10 m

Climate / Range

Subtropical; 8°C - 24°C (Ref. 4944), preferred 26°C (Ref. 107945); 62°N - 57°S, 180°W - 180°E (Ref. 54241)

Distribution

Cosmopolitan in coastal waters of the tropical, subtropical and temperate zones of all seas. Eastern Pacific: California, USA to Chile (Ref. 2850). Western Pacific: Japan to Australia (Ref. 9812). Western Indian Ocean: from India to South Africa (Ref. 4393). Western Atlantic: Nova Scotia, Canada to Brazil (Ref. 7251); Cape Cod to southern Gulf of Mexico (Ref. 26938); absent in the Bahamas and most of West Indies and Caribbean (Ref. 7251, 9761). Eastern Atlantic: Bay of Biscay to South Africa, including the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea (Ref. 7399). Reported in Sea of Okhotsk (Ref. 50550).
 Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Introductions

Short description

Dorsal spines (total): 5; Dorsal soft rays (total): 7-9; Anal spines: 3; Anal soft rays: 8 - 9. Diagnosis: body stout, cylindrical in cross-section, slightly compressed; head broad and flattened (Ref. 57400). Well developed adipose eyelid (Ref. 40476, 57400) covering most of pupil (Ref. 57400). Upper lip thin and without papillae, armed with 1-6 rows of fine teeth; hind end of upper jaw reaching a vertical line from anterior eye margin; maxillary pad not visible below corner of mouth when closed; origin of 1st dorsal fin nearer to snout tip than to caudal-fin base; anterior parts and bases of 2nd dorsal and anal fins with a moderately dense coverage of scales; pectoral axillary process; 14-15 scale rows between origins of dorsal and pelvic fins (Ref. 57400).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Adults are found in coastal waters (Ref. 2850, 44894, 57400), often entering estuaries and rivers (Ref. 2847, 3573, 11230, 44894, 57400), sometimes far-up-river, lagoons and hypersaline environments (Ref. 57400). They are usually in schools over sand or mud bottom (Ref. 2850), between 0 and 10 m, occurring equally in tropical, subtropical and temperate waters (Project MUGIL). They are mainly diurnal, feeding on detritus, micro-algae and benthic organisms (Ref. 56548, 74902, 74760). Juveniles feed on zooplankton until about 3.0 cm SL (Ref. 59043). Reproduction takes place at sea, at various times of the year depending on the location (Ref. 74907, Amour). There is absence of an obligatory freshwater phase in the life cycle (Ref. 74752). Females spawn 0.8 to 2.6 million eggs which develop at sea (Ref. 74912, Chen & Su 1986). Sexually mature at 3 to 4 years (Ref. 74902). Maximum length reported as 120 cm SL (Ref. 7399, 57400) remains to be confirmed (Project MUGIL). Maximum weight reported as 12 kg (Ref. 56527) seems too high for the area and remains to be confirmed (Project MUGIL). Widely cultivated in freshwater and brackish ponds (Ref. 2847, Jackson 1984, Liao 1981). Marketed fresh, dried, salted, and frozen; roe sold fresh or smoked (Ref. 9321); also used in Chinese medicine (Ref. 12166).

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 115185)

  Least Concern (LC) 

Threat to humans

  Harmless (Ref. 4887)



Human uses

Fisheries: highly commercial; aquaculture: commercial; gamefish: yes; bait: occasionally

Tools

E-book | Field guide | Identification keys | Length-frequency wizard | Life-history tool | Point map | Classification Tree

Special reports

Check for Aquarium maintenance | Check for Species Fact Sheets | Check for Aquaculture Fact Sheets

Download XML

Summary page | Point data | Common names | Photos

Internet sources

Alien/Invasive Species database | BHL | BOLDSystems | Check for other websites | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO(Aquaculture: production, species profile; fisheries: production, species profile; publication : search) | GenBank(genome, nucleotide) | GOBASE | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | iSpecies | National databases | Public aquariums | PubMed | Scirus | Sea Around Us | SeaLifeBase | Tree of Life | uBio | uBio RSS | Wikipedia(Go, Search) | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record | Fishtrace

Estimates of some properties based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82805)
 PD50 = 0.5000 many relatives (e.g. carps) 0.5 - 2.0 few relatives (e.g. lungfishes)

Trophic Level (Ref. 69278)
 2.5   ±0.17 se; Based on food items.

Resilience (Ref. 69278)
 Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (K=0.09-0.15; tm=2-6; tmax=16; Fec=1.6 million)

Vulnerability (Ref. 59153)
 Moderate to high vulnerability (50 of 100)
Price category (Ref. 80766)
 Very high