Bass comes in many varieties. Dicentrarchus labrax is part of a much larger family of bass type fish species: the Perciformes or Perch-likes. This order consists of 156 families, most of them marine fish who live in coastal areas. ‘Our’ bass is part of the Moronidae family. These fish are also known as the so-called temperate basses.
The Moronidae family counts six species, divided between two genera. There is the genus Morone which comprises the white perch (Morone americana), the white bass or sand bass (Morone chrysops), yellow bass or barfish (Morone mississippiensis) and the striped bass or striper (Morone saxatilis). The white bass and yellow bas are fresh water species, the white perch favors brackish water (but is also found in fresh water and coastal areas) and the striped bass migrates between fresh and salt water.
The other genus of the Moronidae family is the Dicentrarchus branch. The name Dicentrarchus derives from the presence of two dorsal fins, whereas a lot of other different seabass species only have one dorsal fin. In this genus we have the European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) and the spotted seabass (Dicentrarchus punctatus). Both species spend most of their lives in sea, but can also be found in estuaries due to the fact that they are resistant to low salt levels.
There is little room for confusion between the two Dicentrarchus species. The spotted seabass has a distinct black spot on the gill cover and irregular black dots scattered all over its body; especially the adult fish. Juvenile European seabass could be mistaken for its spotted relative. This is because juveniles (until 10 cm) sometimes also maintain black spots on the back and sides. Other differences between labrax and punctatus are the maximum length and their dwelling-place. European seabass can reach around a meter in length, where its spotted relative doesn’t attain more than 70 cm at most. The latter also only appears south of The Channel and in the Mediterranean Sea, where labrax type bass can be found as far north as Norway (check our previous post ‘Going North’).