Leccia stella - Trachinotus ovatus

La Leccia stella, Trachinotus ovatus (Linnaeus, 1758), conosciuta anche come Leccia stellata, è un pesce osseo di mare appartenente alla famiglia Carangidae. Nel video vediamo un esemplare che cerca di catturare delle acciughe, Engraulis encrasicolus, con rapidi e fulminei attacchi.

Distribuzione e habitat
È diffusa nell’intero mar Mediterraneo e nell’ Oceano Atlantico orientale tra La Manica e l’Africa tropicale. Molto raramente è stata trovata a nord fino a Svezia e Norvegia. Nelle acque italiane è molto comune. È pelagica ma prettamente costiera, si trova di solito su substrati sabbiosi ma non è un imperativo. In inverno sta più al largo.

Descrizione
Ha corpo ovoidale, compresso lateralmente, con bocca piccola ed occhi piuttosto grandi rispetto alla leccia. Le pinne anale e prima dorsale sono simmetriche ed opposte, la coda profondamente falcata. Il colore è bianco madreperlaceo con 3-5 macchie ovali più scure sui fianchi e con le punte delle pinne nere. Raramente raggiunge i 50 cm di lunghezza con un massimo di 2 kg.

Alimentazione
Basata su piccoli pesci, in particolare latterini, che caccia anche vicino a riva. La sua tecnica si basa sul gettarsi nel banco e dibattersi quando afferra una preda. I pesci nel disperato tentativo di confondere la leccia saltano fuori dall’acqua.

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trachinotus_ovatus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trachinotus_ovatus

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European anchovy, Engraulis encrasicolus (Linnaeus, 1758) is a marine bony fish belonging to the Engraulidae family of great economic importance.

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.

It is a typical pelagic fish that can also be found at a great distance from the coasts, which it approaches in May-June for reproduction. Usually, in the warm season it is not encountered at depths greater than 50 metres; the maximum recorded depth is 400 meters. In winter it frequents deeper waters, around 100-180 meters in the Mediterranean.

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 front end of the head, in a very advanced position.

The mouth is also large (much more than in the sardine), wide beyond the eye, and is placed in the inferior position (ie in the lower part of the head); it is armed with small and numerous teeth. The upper jaw is longer than the lower. The flakes are small and detach easily. The dorsal fin is quite short, triangular in shape, inserted about halfway down the body. The anal fin is set further back, lower and longer than the dorsal. The ventral fins are small and placed at the height of the origin of the dorsal; the pectoral fins are inserted very low, near the ventral edge of the body and are narrow and elongated. The caudal fin is bilobed.

Biology
It is a gregarious species in every vital phase that forms very numerous shoals, often mixed with other species (for example the sardine) but composed of specimens of similar size (phenomenon known as gregariousness by size). The anchovy performs both seasonal migrations, given that it moves to deep waters in winter, and nicthemeral migrations, meaning that it moves to different depths throughout the day. It can live up to 5 years.

Diet
It feeds by day. It feeds on zooplankton, the main preys are copepod crustaceans and mollusc larval stages.

Reproduction
Spawning occurs in coastal waters between April and November and peaks in June and July. The eggs, laid in numbers up to 40,000, are pelagic. The eggs hatch within 2 days, and the larvae just 2 mm long, known together with those of sardines as gianchetti or whitebait, immediately aggregate in shoals. Sexual maturity is reached at one year.

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engraulis_encrasicolus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_anchovy

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