Saltwater Boat Angling — December 2017

Saltwater Boat Angling 37

Mediterranean. The Couch’s bream is named after Dr

Jonathon Couch, (1789–1870) the Cornish naturalist, who

discovered this species in British waters.

Pandora bream

Pagellus erythrinus

These grow to around 4lb in size, the Pandora bream is

another rare visitor to UK waters.  It has a much slimmer

and longer body than most bream species

and is mostly silver in colour, often with

a pinkish tinge on the black-

and-blue/purple species. It is

most commonly found in

the Mediterranean but has a

wide distribution and is

found in smaller

numbers throughout

European waters,

all the way

around to the

North Sea and

Scandinavian

waters.

Red Bream

Pagellus bogaraveo

It has the same oval shape as the black bream, with a high

lateral line. This speciers, which is rarely caught in British

waters now, has a pink to red colour on the upper flanks,

fading to a silver around the belly. It has the same long

spined dorsal and same shape anal fin as the black bream,

and the mouth is also full of sharp teeth. The eyes are

unusually large. There is a prominent black spot above

the pectoral fin, which can vary in size. This causes it to be

known as the blackspot bream in some places.

Ray’s bream

Brama brama

Ray’s bream is a large bream species, able to reach weights

of around 10lbs. They are the typical bream shape, and are

usually dark grey, black or dark green in colour. Like

most bream species, they are more common in

the south of the UK but sometimes appear

in other parts, even as far north as

Scotland. It is also found throughout

the warmer waters of the world

around the equator. They generally

live in offshore waters and will

feed at all water levels. This

species is named after the

famous English naturalist John

Ray (1627–1705) who first

discovered and classified this species,

although in most countries, other than the

UK and Ireland, this species is also known as pomfret.

There are four

or five species which are

commonly caught here

but two in particular are

regularly targeted by

anglers.

Line drawings by

Chris Turnbull

P36-37 Team Bream i.qxp_Layout 1 08/11/2017 16:05 Page 2