Salema
Sarpa salpa
Identification
The dreamfish is an oval, laterally compressed fish to 45 cm with a striking appearance: golden longitudinal stripes over a silvery body. The mouth is small with sharp, incisor-like teeth — adapted for grazing on seagrass and algae. Golden eyes.
Ecology
One of the few herbivorous sea fish in European waters. Lives in schools over rocky bottoms and seagrass beds in the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic. The species is notorious for its hallucinogenic reputation: consuming certain specimens can cause visual hallucinations (ichthyoallyeinotoxism), presumably from toxic algae in the diet. This phenomenon was already known to the Romans.
In the Netherlands
A warm-water species that appears incidentally in the southern North Sea. With warming sea temperatures, sightings may become more frequent. Not a fishery species in the Netherlands.
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Seasonal patterns
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Key predictors
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