European Bass

About this heritage

Sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax; Linnaeus, 1758) is a lean fish with an elongated, oval, and slender body. It has separate dorsal fins, two flat spines in the operculum, and a diffuse black spot in the upper corner. It measures between 20 and 55 centimeters in length; larger individuals can be found, but they are not often fished for consumption.

The color varies from dark gray on the back to become white on the belly, although in the water seems silvery bright, more leaden grey on the back with olive green iridescence. Juveniles may have some dark spots on the upper body that disappear with age. It has a diffuse black spot on the upper back of the operculum.

It has an enormous mouth that of a great predator, which is covered with tiny teeth in both jaws. They are voracious species that feed mainly on other fish and a wide range of invertebrates, including shrimp, prawns, crabs, squid, and mollusks.

Their breeding season runs from January to the end of March. The highest catch of these individuals is during the coldest months.

It lives in both rocky and sandy or pebble seabeds of up to 100 meters deep, preferring cliffs and breakers, where the water "boils" and removes from stones crustaceans and mollusks. The young specimens form schools of fish.

The European bass is marketed as a whole and fresh. Its minimum legal size is 36 centimeters.

To learn more

The wild sea bass individuals live in the North Atlantic, from Norway and the British Isles to the south of Morocco and the Canary Islands, the Mediterranean, and the Black Sea. It can also be found in southern Senegal.

It is a nekton-benthonic species, found typically in coastal zones, in all kinds of the seabed, and even at depths of up to a hundred meters.

Sometimes, it seems to hunt in groups with apparent great coordination; it is a voracious predator feeding on small gregarious fish, crustaceans, and mollusks.

Present throughout the Galician coastline, it is caught to a greater extent in the mouths of the Vigo and Pontevedra estuaries, in the vicinity of Malpica and throughout the Cantabrian area of Galicia.

It is caught by longline and, to a lesser extent, with gillnets.

The sea bass has no bans or biological stoppages. The only limitation of extraction and marketing is the 36 centimeters of minimum total length.

The average catch in the last five years of the European bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) was 7,870.49 kg/year, representing 3.02% of the total annual catch in the Baiona fish market. This generated, for the same period, an average annual income of 84,202.91 €.

Sea bass is a culinary luxury and should be cooked as freshly as possible. Its compact and white meat can be prepared in as many ways as desired; roasted, baked, barbecued, or grilled. The fineness of its meat allows for daring bets, such as marinating it raw, and, of course, you can try it in "caldeirada" (delicious Galician stew).

Until recently, it had not been given so much culinary importance on the peninsula. Papillote cooking is internationally renowned, a preparation that was invented by the cook of Pope Leo III in the 8th century and was served at the coronation of Charlemagne.

To know it better

European bass, known in Spanish as lubina or róbalo, is a white or semi-oily fish belonging to the Percichthydae family, of great size about 40 to 80 centimeters long, with an elongated round body, with pointed head, and wide mouth.

Its skin is grey and its belly white, and the younger it is the more black dots can be found in its body. Besides, it has a lateral black stripe up to the tail that potentiates its sensitivity to detect surrounding vibrations and sounds. It feeds on any other fish, worms, crustaceans, octopuses, and even algae.

In Baiona, this product is easily found since it normally lives on rocky coasts, in ports, and even in brackish waters. The larvae are usually found in estuaries during the first and second years of life. Keeping in mind that the best seasons for their capture are spring and autumn.