White seabream (blacktail) (Diplodus sargus)

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Fish·Active (October)

White seabream (blacktail)

Diplodus sargus

When
Active all year; habitat and behaviour shift with the season.
Habitat
Rocky shores and the surf beside them — gullies, white water, breakwaters and harbour walls — around the Mediterranean and the Atlantic coasts of France and Iberia, and along the whole South African coast east of Cape Point.
Identification
A deep, oval, silver seabream with a big black saddle on the tail stalk. Mediterranean fish carry nine alternating dark and pale bars and a black spot above the pectoral fin; large Cape blacktail are plain silvery-grey, with only faint bars on the young.
Notes
The ‘dassie’ of South African rock anglers and the third most commonly caught shore fish on the country’s east and south coasts; the sar or sargo of Mediterranean rock fishing. A resident of its home reef that feeds in the surf at dawn on seaweed, mussels, worms and crabs.
Method
A small, strong hook with prawn, mussel or red bait, fished light in the wash close to the rocks.
Caution
In South Africa five a day at 20 cm or more, on a DFFE recreational permit (online or at the Post Office), and it may not be sold. European countries set their own minimum sizes — in France 23 cm on the Mediterranean and 25 cm on the Atlantic coast; check local rules.

Seasons, size limits and catch limits change every year and differ by water body. Check the current regulations for the country and the water before fishing.

White seabream (blacktail) facts

Also called
Sargo or sar in the Mediterranean; blacktail, dassie or kolstert in South Africa, where WWF-SASSI lists it as Diplodus sargus capensis. FishBase and ORI now treat the southern African fish as a separate species, Diplodus capensis.
Family
Sparidae, the seabreams and porgies.
Native range
White seabream: the Atlantic from Brittany to Gibraltar, the Mediterranean and the south-western Black Sea. Blacktail: southern Africa in two separate populations — southern Angola and Namibia, and Cape Point east to southern Mozambique — and southern Madagascar.
Habitat
Rocky coasts and the surf zone beside them, usually shallower than 50 m (165 ft); Mediterranean fish also use seagrass beds. Young blacktail live in rock pools, gullies, estuary mouths and the surf of sandy beaches.
Water temperature
Warm-temperate. AquaMaps puts the Mediterranean fish’s preferred surface water at about 17–23°C (62–73°F) and the Cape blacktail’s at about 16–26°C (60–79°F).
Size
Most adults 20–30 cm (8–12 in); the largest measured about 45 cm (18 in).
Record
IGFA all-tackle world record (white seabream): 1.87 kg (4 lb 1 oz), Anthony Loddo, Gibraltar Bay, Gibraltar, 28 April 1996. The South African angling record for blacktail is 2.7 kg (6 lb).
Lifespan
Up to 10 years for Mediterranean white seabream; Cape blacktail have been aged to 21.
What it eats
Seaweed, sponges, mussels and other shellfish, sea urchins, worms, crabs and amphipods.
Spawning
Mediterranean fish spawn in early spring (March to May in the Gulf of Tunis). Cape blacktail spawn in small groups on inshore reefs — June to September in KwaZulu-Natal, August to March in the Eastern Cape — and mature at about three years. Some fish change sex as they grow.
Young fish
Young fish show faint vertical bars and shelter in rock pools, gullies and estuary mouths.
Teeth and mouth
Thin lips, with eight incisor-like teeth at the front of each jaw and rows of molars behind.
Look-alikes
In the Cape, zebra (Diplodus hottentotus) carries bold dark crossbars, and galjoen is deeper and heavier with thick lips. In Europe several other Diplodus seabreams share the rocks; the white seabream combines nine alternating bars with the black saddle on the tail stalk and a black spot above the pectoral fin.
Eating
A minor food fish in the Mediterranean, where it is also farmed. In South Africa blacktail is a no-sale species, and its flesh is not highly regarded.
Status
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, both as white seabream (2011) and as Cape blacktail (2009).

Interactive

White seabream: size range

Move the slider from a typical adult to the largest recorded specimen, shown against objects of known size.

25 cm · 10 inmost adults5101520253035404550cm24681012141618ina grown-up's hand · 18 cma loaf of bread · 30 cm

Most adults you'll catch: 20–30 cm (8–12 in).

This white seabream (blacktail): 25 cm. Longer than a hand, shorter than a loaf of bread.

The record

IGFA all-tackle world record (white seabream): 1.87 kg (4 lb 1 oz), Anthony Loddo, Gibraltar Bay, Gibraltar, 28 April 1996. The South African angling record for blacktail is 2.7 kg (6 lb).

Questions people ask about white seabream

Is a blacktail the same as a white seabream?

Closely related, and long treated as one species: the South African blacktail was described as a subspecies, Diplodus sargus capensis, and WWF-SASSI still uses that name. FishBase and South African scientists now rank it as a species in its own right, Diplodus capensis.

What is the bag limit for blacktail?

Five a day at 20 cm or more, on a DFFE recreational permit. It is a no-sale species.

What is the best bait for blacktail or sargo?

Prawn, mussel or red bait on a small, strong hook, fished light in the white water beside the rocks. It feeds in the surf mostly around dawn.

Found in these regions

Checked against these sources ·

Sizes, records and ranges are for the species as a whole; local populations and rules vary. Records change; the record-keeper named above holds the current one.

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