Mediterranean Coast, France

European Seabass

Dicentrarchus labrax

Europe's number one saltwater lure fish — a silvery, hard-hitting predator of surf beaches, estuaries and rocky shores from the Mediterranean to the North Sea, and still expanding northwards. It is tightly managed across Europe, so always check the current local minimum-size and bag rules before keeping one. Called Wolfsbarsch in German, bar or loup in French, lubina in Spanish and zeebaars in Dutch.

Gilthead Bream

Sparus aurata

The Mediterranean's number one seabream, recognised by the gold crown between its eyes — a lagoon and estuary fish as much as an open-coast one, and a shell-crusher. It is expanding into the Channel and now shows up every summer in southern England.

Common Dentex

Dentex dentex

The big pink predator of Mediterranean reefs — a bream with dog-like canine fangs, built to ambush fish and squid instead of grazing algae. A jigging and live-bait prize, and the most heavily toothed member of its family.

Leerfish

Lichia amia

A fast surface hunter of Mediterranean beaches and estuary mouths — a torpedo-shaped amberjack relative that chases mullet right into the surf and hits poppers with real aggression. One of the Mediterranean's most exciting shore fish.

White Seabream

Diplodus sargus

The classic Mediterranean rock-fishing bream, silvery and bold around harbours and surf-washed reefs from the French and Italian coasts to Spain. Note on the name: its Spanish name 'sargo' is also used in this guide for a completely different Californian fish (sargo, Anisotremus davidsonii) — the same word, but a different species in a different ocean, so the bare word 'sargo' is deliberately not listed as an alias here. Wary of shadows and noise, it rewards a quiet, lightly weighted bait drifted into white water.

Annular Seabream

Diplodus annularis

The smallest of the common Mediterranean Diplodus breams, a small silver fish of harbours, lagoons and seagrass shallows around France, Italy and Spain. The bold black ring at the base of the tail is its unmistakable mark. It bites freely on tiny baits and is often a child's first Mediterranean bream.

Two-banded Seabream

Diplodus vulgaris

The smartest of the Mediterranean Diplodus breams, recognised by exactly two black bands — one behind the head and one at the base of the tail. Its close relative the sharpsnout seabream (Diplodus puntazzo), with a more pointed snout and thinner bands, is handled here on this page rather than given a page of its own. A cautious rock fish that rewards a quiet bait at dusk.

Saddled Bream

Oblada melanura

A silvery mid-water shoal bream of Mediterranean rock, easy to pick out by the black, white-edged saddle spot at the base of the tail. The saddled bream is the bread-bait classic, rising to drifting bread and slow-sinking flakes from piers and breakwaters. Sociable, quick and an ideal first float-fishing fish.

Salema

Sarpa salpa

The golden-striped vegetarian of the Mediterranean shallows, grazing seagrass and algae meadows in slow shoals around France, Italy and Spain. Honesty for the table: salema is eaten traditionally, but rare cases of hallucinogenic fish poisoning after eating it are documented — many anglers release it consistently for that reason (see the habits and edibility notes). On bread and weed it is a peaceful, sociable float-fishing fish.

Bogue

Boops boops

The big-eyed, slender shoaling sparid of the Mediterranean, holding deep by day and rising to feed at dusk and through the night. Bogue shoals fill sabiki strings and harbour floats around France, Italy and Spain, and their massed parade under harbour lights is a classic pier spectacle. Modest on the hook, but never dull.

Sand Steenbras

Lithognathus mormyrus

The barbel-chinned sand digger of Mediterranean surf beaches, probing with its pointed snout for worms and molluscs. Sand steenbras work the wash at nightfall and dawn and are the beach angler's prime southern prize — easy to know by their many fine bars and the little chin barbel no other local bream carries.

Common Pandora

Pagellus erythrinus

The pink, deep-bodied sparid of offshore sand and mud, a tier deeper than the inshore Diplodus breams. Common pandora feeds by day over clean ground and is a mainstay of Mediterranean boat bottom fishing from France and Italy to Spain. Rows of blue spots along the upper flanks give it away at a glance.

European Pilchard

Sardina pilchardus

This is the true sardine of Europe — the fish behind the tinned sardine, and a cornerstone forage fish of the Mediterranean and the eastern Atlantic. In summer the great shoals push inshore, and pier anglers take them on sabiki feather rigs in the evenings. The page name is 'European Pilchard'; 'sardine' is the same fish under its better-known name.

Bullet Tuna

Auxis rochei

A small, very fast tuna of Mediterranean summer surface water, hunting in schools just under the surface and taken on feathers and small lures from boats, and occasionally by casting from deep headlands. Barely bigger than a mackerel, it fights like a fish twice its size. Its French name is thonine; in Spanish it is bacoreta or melva.

Striped Red Mullet

Mullus surmuletus

A small goatfish that tastes the bottom with its two chin barbels, rooting constantly in sand and mud for worms and crustaceans. It is one of the Mediterranean's most coveted table fish — the rouget of French kitchens and the salmonete of Spanish ones. Bites are shy and tackle must be fine, but the plate repays the care.

Shi Drum

Umbrina cirrosa

A silvery drum of Mediterranean surf and harbour walls that feeds over sand at dusk. Do not confuse it with the brown meagre (Sciaena umbra): that relative is fully protected and must be released — in France, spearfishing it has been banned since 2013. In French it is ombrine; in Spanish, corvallo.

Golden Grey Mullet

Chelon aurata

The hardest of Europe's mullets to fool: a slim, gold-marked fish of harbours and estuaries that grazes at the surface in summer. The gold spot on its gill cover separates it from its cousins at a glance. It is regarded as the connoisseur's mullet — scarce, shy, and a real test of the finest tackle and a quiet approach.

European Barracuda

Sphyraena sphyraena

The slender native barracuda of the Mediterranean — a fraction of the size of its tropical cousins — hanging motionless over sand and rock and exploding after silversides, best at dawn. Its French name is brochet de mer and in Spanish it is espet. A wary, sight-hunting predator for lure anglers on headlands and harbour mouths.

Yellowmouth Barracuda

Sphyraena viridensis

The bolder, more social of the Mediterranean's two barracudas: it forms daytime schools over reefs, marked out by its yellow tail and yellow mouth lining. The species is spreading through the Mediterranean — in the east also as Lessepsian migrants arrived through Suez. Where it schools, a well-presented minnow plug or live bait brings fast, hard strikes.