Spicara is a genusofray-finned fish belonging to the familySparidae, which includes the seabreams and porgies. These fishes are found in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The species in the genus are known as picarels.
Spicara was first proposed as a monospecific genus in 1810 by the French naturalist and polymathConstantine Samuel Rafinesque when he describedSpicara flexuosa as a new species.[1] Rafinesque gave the type localityofS. flexuosaasSicily.[2] The genera Spicara and Centracanthus were formerly classified within the family Centracanthidae but phylogenetic analyses recovered the family Sparidae as paraphyletic if Spicara was not included within it. The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies the picarels in the family Sparidae within the orderSpariformes by the 5th edition of Fishes of the World.[3] Some authorities classify this genus in the subfamily Boopsinae,[4] but the 5th edition of Fishes of the World does not recognise subfamilies within the Sparidae.[3]
Spicara is a vernacular name for picarels, particularly S. flexuosa in Italy. This is presumed to derive from spica, "a spike", or spicare, meaning "in the form of or furnished with a spike", Rafinesque did not explain why he chose this name.[5]
Spicara picarels have oblong bodies which are deeper than the length of the head. They have a continuous dorsal fin with the bases of the soft rayed parts of both the dorsal and the anal fin are enclosed in a scaly sheath.[9] The largest species in the genus is S. axillaris with a maximum published total length of 38 cm (15 in) while with a maximum published total length of 20 cm (7.9 in) S. nigricauda is the smallest species.[6]
Spicara picarels are found mainly in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean and the western Indian Ocean.[6] There is one species S. martinicum which is known only from its holotype collected off the island of Martinique in the Caribbean Sea.[10]
^Imsiridou A.; Minos G.; Gakopoulou A.; Katsares V.; Karidas T.; Katselis G. (2011). "Discrimination of two picarel species Spicara flexuosa and Spicara maena (Pisces: Centracanthidae) based on mitochondrial DNA sequences". Journal of Fish Biology. 78 (1): 373–377. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8649.2010.02858.x. PMID21235569.
