Diplodus is a genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging the familySparidae, which includes the seabreams and porgies. These fishes are found in the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea and the western Indian Ocean.
Within the genus three clades have been identified, the first consists of D. annularis and D. bellottii, the second is made up of D. vulgaris and D. prayensis while the third splits into further clades, The first of these "sub-clades" comprises D. puntazzo and Oblada melanura, a second made up of D. fasciatus and D. cervinussensu lato (including D. hottentotus, D. omanensis and the Mascarene endemic D. striatus) while the third consists of D, vulgaris (including D. prayensis) and the D. sargusspecies complex. This species complex is made up of the Western Atlantic species, D. argenteus, D. bermudensisD. caudimacula and D. holbrooki. the Red Sea endemic D. noct, the Indian Ocean D. kotschyi the eastern Mediterranean D. levantinus and the eastern Atlantic D. ascensionis, D. cadenatiD. capensis, D. helenae, D. lineatus and D. sargus. It is also thought that the D. sargus species complex originated in the Cape Verde area and radiated and speciated from there.[5]
Etymology
Diplodus means "double toothed", an allusion Rafinesque did not explain but it may be a reference to the two types of teeth, incisor-like and molar-like, or to the double incisor-like teeth.[6]
Species
Diplodus contains the following extant valid species:[7]
Diplodus seabreams have deep bodies with an elongated ovate shape. There are between 8 and 12 incisor-like teeth in the front of the upper jaw, the rest of the teeth are molar like. The lateral line is made up of 60, or more, scales. There is a scaled sheath at the base of the dorsal and anal fins. The flange on the preoperculum has no scales. The bodies may be marked with dark vertical bars or is plain silvery with a black blotch or spot on the caudal peduncle.[9] The largest species in the genus with maximum published total lengths of 60 cm (24 in) are D. hottentotus and D. puntazzowhile the smallest is D. ascensionis which has a maximum published total length of 22 cm (8.7 in).[7]
Distribution
Diplodus seabreams are found in the Eastern and Western Atlantic Oceans, the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea and the Western Indian Ocean.[7]
^M. Summerer; R. Hanel; C. Sturmbauer (2005). "Mitochondrial phylogeny and biogeographic affinities of sea breams of the genus Diplodus (Sparidae)". Journal of Fish Biology. 59 (6): 1638–1652. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8649.2001.tb00227.x.
^ abcdefghFricke, R., Golani, D. & Appelbaum-Golani, B. (2016): Diplodus levantinus (Teleostei: Sparidae), a new species of sea bream from the southeastern Mediterranean Sea of Israel, with a checklist and a key to the species of the Diplodus sargus species group. Scientia Marina, 80 (3): 305-320.
