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It often happens that anchovies make a ball like in the famous song by Fabrizio De Andrè and Ivano Fossati, except that in this case they are not attacked by the albacore but by saddled breams. Acciughe fanno il pallone Acciuga Alice intotheblue.it
As you can see in the video, everything happens in a few moments and this school of anchovies tries to aggregate to escape predators, taking the shape of a large blue ball. This behavior is common to all so-called gregarious fish and anchovies do it when they are attacked, practically almost always since they are the main food for many species of fish.
European anchovy Engraulis encrasicolus acciuga alice intotheblue.it
In our case they are not hunted by the Albacore, Thunnus alalunga or by some tuna as more often happens in the open sea but by a group of Saddled Bream, Oblada melanurus, which coordinate in the hunt in about ten specimens, since we are close to the coast and these fish are more frequent.
Anchovies make a ball
European anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus (Linnaeus, 1758) is a marine bony fish belonging to the Engraulidae family.
The term alice, from the southern Italian, Neapolitan and Sicilian areas (alici), derives from the Latin allēc (-ēcis) – a sauce similar to garum, made with fermented fish entrails – and even earlier from the Greek ᾰ̔́λς (háls) meaning “salt”.
Habitat and distribution
The species is widespread in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, between Norway and South Africa. It is also present and common in the Mediterranean, Black and Azov seas. Some specimens have been caught in the Suez Canal; it is therefore one of the few species of Mediterranean fish that have undertaken a migration towards the Red Sea, in the opposite direction to that of the Lessepsian migrants.
European anchovy Engraulis encrasicolus acciuga alice intotheblue.it
It is a typical pelagic fish that can also be found at great distances from the coasts, to which it is possible to approaches in May-June for reproduction. Usually, in the warm season it is not found at depths greater than 50 meters; the maximum recorded depth is 400 meters. In winter it frequents deeper waters, around 100-180 meters in the Mediterranean. It is a moderately euryhaline species, tolerates brackish waters and sometimes penetrates mouths and lagoons.
Description
Although the anchovy is often associated with the sardine and sometimes confused with it, these two species belong to different families and have a decidedly different appearance. The anchovy has an elongated and slender body, with a cylindrical section, without the ventral crest of rigid scales present in the sardine. The head is large (about ¼ of the total length), conical, pointed, with large eyes placed at the anterior end of the head, in a very advanced position.
Saddled seabream Oblada melanurus Occhiata European anchovy Engraulis encrasicolus acciuga alice intotheblue.it
The mouth is also large (much more than in the sardine), wide beyond the eye, and is placed in an inferior position (i.e. in the lower part of the head); It is armed with small and numerous teeth. The upper jaw is longer than the lower. The scales are small and come off easily. The dorsal fin is quite short, triangular in shape, inserted approximately halfway along the body. The anal fin is inserted further back, is lower and longer than the dorsal fin. The ventral fins are small and placed at the height of the origin of the dorsal fin; the pectoral fins are inserted very low, near the ventral edge of the body and are narrow and elongated. The caudal fin is bilobed.
L’ Occhiata (Oblada melanurus Linnaeus, 1758) is a saltwater fish belonging to the Sparidae family. It is the only species of the genus Oblada.
Distribution and habitat
It is widespread in the coastal waters (up to 40 m deep) of the Mediterranean and the eastern Atlantic Ocean (from the Bay of Biscay to the coasts of Angola). It also inhabits the coasts of Madeira, Cape Verde and the Canary Islands and part of the Black Sea. It lives near rocky coasts and is a demersal species that always stays in open water even if very close to the shore
Description
The sea bream has an appearance very similar to that of the white bream or the salema: oval and slender shape with a very flattened body, large eyes and an upward-facing mouth, with a slightly protruding jaw and sharp teeth. The livery is grey-blue, with bright silver reflections, darker on the back and lighter on the sides, which are crossed by numerous dark horizontal lines. A large black spot bordered in white is visible on the caudal peduncle. The caudal fin is forked. At about 10 years of age, it can reach a length of about 25-30 cm and a weight of 700 g to 1 kg, but the individuals that frequent the coast have a weight that falls between 150 and 300 g.
Behavior
It is a gregarious species and forms very large group.
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oblada_melanurus
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