Mullets have worldwide distribution and inhabit tropical and temperate seas; a few spend their lives in freshwater (Nelsonv, 2006). The Mugilidae family includes 17 genera and 72 species in the world (Harrison and Senou, 1999; Nelson, 2006). Eight species of Mugilidae inhabit the Mediterranean Sea, and originally classified as part of the single genus Mugil, under different names (M. cephalus, M. ramada, M. labrosus, M. labeo, M. aurata, M. abu, M. saliens, M. carinata) (in Turan C. et al., 2009).
Adults are found in coastal waters, often entering estuaries and rivers, sometimes far-up-river, lagoons and hypersaline environments. They are usually in schools over sand or mud bottom, between 0 and 10 m, occurring equally in tropical, subtropical and temperate waters. They are mainly diurnal, feeding on detritus, micro-algae and benthic organisms. Juveniles feed on zooplankton. Reproduction takes place at sea, at various times of the year depending on the location. Adults form schools and migrate offshore to spawn and developing larvae migrate back inshore. There is absence of an obligatory freshwater phase in the life cycle (fishbase, n.d.).
Source: https://fishbase.mnhn.fr/. n.d.
Turan C., Gürlek M., Ergüden D., Yağlıoğlu D., Öztürk B. (2009). Systematic Status of Nine Mullet Species (Mugilidae) in the Mediterranean Sea. Turkish Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 11: 315-321 (2011) . Available at https://www.academia.edu/22846963/_Mugilidae_in_the_Mediterranean_Sea
Return to fish
Not applicable. This layer is not present in the North Sea Edition.
Not applicable. This layer is not present in the Baltic Sea Edition.
Not applicable. This layer is not present in the Clyde Marine Region Edition.
Not applicable. This layer is not present in the Adriatic Sea Edition.
Mullet is a month-by-month, computer generated data layers following calculations made by the ecosystem simulation (EwE). The simplified EwE Eastern Mediterranean model was adjusted for use in the MSP Challenge by Eyal Ofir.
For more information on how Ecopath-with-Ecosim (EwE) works, please visit our Wiki page or visit the official EwE website at https://ecopath.org.
Co-funded by the European Union.