Spicara maena
(Linnaeus, 1758) · speciesAt a glance
Sources13 archives
Databases and archives Spicara maena's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation7 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility3 833 records↗
OBISOcean Biodiversity Information System905 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI19 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics51 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinegenome & karyotype↗
Tree of SexTree of Sex Consortiumgenome & karyotype↗
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
Catalogue of LifeCOLtaxonomy↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
Spicara maena, the blotched picarel, is a species of ray-finned fish native to the eastern Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. The male grows to a maximum length of about 25 cm, and the female reaches 21 cm. This fish is fished commercially in some areas. Genetic studies have confirmed that Spicara flexuosa is a separate species, not a synonym for Spicara maenaBektas Y., Aksu I., Kalayci G., Irmak E., Engin S., Turan D. Genetic differentiation of three Spicara (Pisces: Centracanthidae) species, S. maena, S. flexuosa and S. smaris: and intraspecific substructure of S. flexuosa in Turkish coastal waters (англ.) // Turkish Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. — 2018. — Vol. 18, no. 2. — P. 301—311. — DOI:10.4194/1303-2712-v18_2_09Imsiridou A., Minos G., Gakopoulou A., Katsares V., Karidas T., Katselis G. Discrimination of two picarel species Spicara flexuosa and Spicara maena (Pisces: Centracanthidae) based on mitochondrial DNA sequences (англ.) // J. Fish Biol.. — 2011. — Vol. 78, no. 1. — P. 373—377. — DOI:10.1111/j.1095-8649.2010.02858.x
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Size & morphology1
Habitat & environment2
Uses & economy1
Other traits3
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Spicara maena has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
Besides the big genome in the nucleus, cells carry a small, circular loop of DNA inside the cell's energy factories — the mitochondria. It is inherited almost only from the mother and is a leftover from ancient bacteria that moved into the cell. The mitochondrial markers above (ND*, COX, CYTB…) are read from exactly this loop. Outer ring = one strand, inner ring = the other.
The complete instruction manual Spicara maena carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
Sequencing statusassembly quality — how far to trust these numbers
Assembly level tells you how finished the sequence is — from fragmented contigs, through scaffolds, up to a full chromosome-level assembly. BUSCO % estimates completeness: the share of genes expected to be present that were actually found. These describe the data quality, not the organism.
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
Record type4 738 records
Origin
Range
Depth
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions9 of 21 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| ICATMARlocation not on record | 211 |
| Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientalelocation not on record | 50 |
| Paris, FR | 43 |
| SNSB-Zoologische Staatssammlung Münchenlocation not on record | 13 |
| Brussels, BE | 12 |
| Stockholm, SE | 11 |
| FishBaselocation not on record | 7 |
| Helsinki, FI | 6 |
| 6 | |
| SMNHTAUlocation not on record | 4 |
| Barcelona, ES | 3 |
| National Natural History Collectionslocation not on record | 3 |
| ICM-CSIClocation not on record | 2 |
| Ann Arbor, US | 2 |
| South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversitylocation not on record | 2 |
| Toronto, CA | 2 |
| RBINS-Scientific Heritagelocation not on record | 2 |
| Cambridge, US | 1 |
| IEO-COMA-CSIClocation not on record | 1 |
| Bandirma Sheep Breeding Research Institutelocation not on record | 1 |
| University of California San Diegolocation not on record | 1 |
Where the DNA of Spicara maena was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
Modelled climatemodelled
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.