Bluespotted seabream (Pagrus caeruleostictus): the seabream that was taken for years to be the male of another species

November 11, 2026

Silvery with a pink sheen, sprinkled with tiny, bright blue spots — and in spawning colours the males wear a golden-yellow head. *Pagrus caeruleostictus* is a seabream, a close relative of the red porgy (*Pagrus pagrus*) and the redbanded seabream (*Pagrus auriga*). In English it is called bluespotted seabream; in Spanish zapata blanca or hurta; in Italian pagro reale maschio or pagro azzurro, in French pagre à points bleus, in Portuguese pargo-zapata, in Catalan pagre reial or fusta, in Dutch blauwgevlekte zeebrasem, in Finnish sinipilkkupargo, in Russian крапчатый пагр, in Greek στικτό φαγκρί, in Croatian pagar barjaktar, in Albanian pagri pikablu, in Turkish tarança balığı (GBIF and Spanish, Italian, Catalan, Portuguese and Russian Wikipedia). In German, GBIF lists it as Blaufleckenbrasse. Here is how to recognise it, where it lives, what it eats — and what the sources say about the when.

Name and origin: the “blue-spotted one” from the eastern Atlantic

It was described by the French zoologist Achille Valenciennes in 1830 (FishBase, GBIF) — thirteen years before the redbanded seabream, which the same author described in 1843. The genus name *Pagrus* goes back to the Greek *pagros*, an old fish name (FishBase). The species name *caeruleostictus* is made up of Latin *caeruleus*, blue, and Greek *stiktos*, spotted; the common names in almost every language say the same thing. Its home is the eastern Atlantic: from Portugal and the Strait of Gibraltar to Angola, including the Mediterranean (FishBase).

How to recognise it

Blue spots on silvery pink. Italian Wikipedia describes the colouring as silvery with pink reflections, sprinkled with tiny, bright blue spots; in adult fish small dark blotches are added.
Golden-yellow head in spawning colours. Males in spawning colours have a golden-yellow head and flanks (Italian Wikipedia). That fits one of the English names GBIF lists: goldenhead porgy.
An outline like a dentex. The body is oval and similar to that of the dentexes; the forehead is strongly arched in juveniles, less so in adults (Italian Wikipedia).
Three to four short filaments on the back — in juveniles. Young fish have 3 to 4 elongated rays in the dorsal fin, but considerably shorter ones than the redbanded seabream (Italian Wikipedia). That is the best field mark against *Pagrus auriga*: there, two very long filaments and red crossbands; here, several short filaments and blue spots.
Size: around 50 cm is usual; the maximum is 80 or 90 cm, depending on the source (see below). The highest published weight: 11.6 kg (FishBase).

Where it lives in the Mediterranean

The bluespotted seabream is not an immigrant through the Suez Canal but a native species of the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. How common it is there, the sources describe differently (see below): according to Italian Wikipedia it is common only on the North African coasts and rare in Italian waters. It mostly lives over hard bottom — rock and rubble —, the older fish in the deeper part of the depth range, the young ones close to the coast (FishBase). Italian Wikipedia names as its habitat above all hard bottoms built up by calcareous algae, the so-called coralligène. FishBase lists it as living close to the bottom (benthopelagic), as a species that migrates within the sea, and records it in brackish water as well as in the sea. It mostly holds at depths of 30 to 50 m (FishBase).

What it eats — and what is known about the when

A predator on the bottom. It feeds mainly on bivalves, and also on crustaceans and fish (FishBase). Italian Wikipedia expressly calls it a predator that takes above all fish and crustaceans. FishBase places it at 3.7 on the food ladder — that is the level of a predator, not of a grazer.
On the when there is a single clue — and it concerns spawning. According to FishBase it migrates parallel to the coast to spawn and spawns in batches between spring and autumn, over soft bottom in shallow water. None of the sources read here names a preferred time of day or season for feeding.
Mature early. The fish reach sexual maturity at two years, at a length of around 19 cm (FishBase: 18.7 cm, range 17 to 23 cm). On sex change FishBase does not commit itself: depending on the region, it says, the classification of the sexual pattern may turn out differently.
On the hook and in the net. FishBase lists it as a game fish and as commercially used. Italian Wikipedia calls its flesh excellent.
Conservation status: Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessed 2009). FishBase rates its resilience to fishing as medium (population doubling time 1.4 to 4.4 years) and its vulnerability as moderate to high (46 out of 100). For comparison: for the redbanded seabream the same database gives a very low resilience and 69 out of 100.

Where the sources contradict each other

How big does it get? FishBase: 90 cm standard length, i.e. measured without the tail fin. Catalan Wikipedia: 90 cm total length. Spanish and Russian Wikipedia: 90 cm, without stating how it was measured. Italian Wikipedia: 80 cm.
How widespread is it in the Mediterranean? FishBase and Spanish, Catalan and Russian Wikipedia simply write: including the Mediterranean. Italian Wikipedia qualifies this: present, but common only off North Africa, rare in Italy.
Where does it begin in the Atlantic? FishBase: from Portugal and the Strait of Gibraltar. Italian Wikipedia: between the Gulf of Cádiz and Angola.
How deep? FishBase: 1 to 200 m, mostly 30 to 50 m. Spanish Wikipedia: from the surface down to 200 m. Italian Wikipedia: 20 to 200 m.
Bivalves or fish? FishBase: mainly bivalves, along with crustaceans and fish. Italian Wikipedia: above all fish and crustaceans — nothing there about bivalves. Spanish Wikipedia, going by its sentence structure, applies the statement on food to the juveniles close to the coast.
How valuable is it? Spanish Wikipedia: medium market value. Italian Wikipedia: on the African coasts the object of a flourishing fishery of considerable economic value, in Europe too rare to play a role.
90 cm and 11 kg — for which species? Spanish Wikipedia gives a maximum of 90 cm and 11 kg for the redbanded seabream, FishBase only 80 cm and 3 kg for the same species. For the bluespotted seabream, FishBase has 90 cm and 11.6 kg. In Spanish the two species share the name hurta. Whether the figures have migrated for that reason, no source says — but the match is striking.
Which order? Spanish and Catalan Wikipedia place it in the Perciformes; FishBase now lists the family under Eupercaria. That is a difference in the state of the systematics, not in the species.

Three traps in the name

“Pagro reale maschio” is not a male. In Italian the species is literally called the “male pagro reale”. Italian Wikipedia explains why: for years *P. caeruleostictus* was taken to be the male and *P. auriga* the female of one and the same species. The name has stayed, the error has not.
“Pagre reial” and “pagro reale” are two different fish. Catalan pagre reial is *P. caeruleostictus* (Catalan Wikipedia), Italian pagro reale is *P. auriga*. Anyone translating between the two languages ends up with the wrong species.
“Hurta” and borrowed names. GBIF lists Spanish hurta for both species. Under French, GBIF lists, besides pagre à points bleus, simply pagre as well as daurade rose and dorade rose, under Italian also just pagro — names that in everyday use stand for other seabreams as well. And under Turkish, GBIF lists, besides tarança balığı, also yalancı trança (written there without special characters as “yalanci trance”) — literally “false trança”.

Which brings us to the when, where every article in this series ends. With the bluespotted seabream the sources give exactly one clue: spawning takes place between spring and autumn, shallow and over soft bottom. On feeding time there is not a word anywhere. Habitat, prey and features are covered above, as far as they are documented. What changes every day are the conditions on your water — StrikeAhead calculates them and tells you when the trip is worth it. And because nobody knows the edges and rules of unfamiliar water from day one, StrikeAhead Pathfinder tells you who to go out with: curated guides and skippers, personally vetted before listing — licence and insurance —, with verified catches instead of promo shots, no paid ranking and, for you as an angler, no booking fee. The app tells you when, Pathfinder who with.