Sparidae, Rafinesque, 1818

Freyhof, Jörg, Yoğurtçuoğlu, Baran, Jouladeh-Roudbar, Arash & Kaya, Cüneyt, 2025, Handbook of Freshwater Fishes of West Asia, GmbH, Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter : 832

Family Sparidae

Porgies

Porgies are a family of approximately 164 species, most of which are marine. Only a few species occasionally enter brackish and freshwater habitats, with the only regular freshwater inhabitant in West Asia being Acanthopagrus arabicus . Porgies can be distinguished from other fish of similar appearance belonging to the families Percidae , Cichlidae , Centrarchidae , and Moronidae by the presence of a very long and strong second anal spine and a pointed, strongly compressed snout. Many porgies are hermaphrodites, with male and female gonads developing simultaneously, which allows them to change sex from male to female (protandry) or from female to male (protogyny). Acanthopagus arabicus was previously identified as A. latus but has since been sorted into five species, two of which occur in the area: A. arabicus and A. sheim .

Further reading. Iwatsuki 2013 (identification); Nelson et al. 2016 (diversity).