Common dentex

Quick facts

How to identify it

A robust, oval body with a large head and, in old fish, a steep, almost humped forehead. The mouth is big and armed with four to six strong canines in each jaw, followed by smaller pointed teeth – there are no crushing molars like the gilthead's. Adults are pinkish-silver to bluish-grey with a scattering of small blue spots, darker above and paler below; the fins are pink to reddish and the tail deeply forked. Juveniles are greyish with brighter blue speckles. Confusable relatives include the pink dentex, which has elongated dorsal rays and a hump, and red seabreams, which are redder and lack the heavy canines.

Where it lives

Dentex are fish of rocky and mixed bottoms in clear, saline water: reefs, underwater cliffs, headland points, the edges of seagrass meadows and the drop-offs around islands. Adults hold mostly between 15 and 50 m, moving into 5–15 m at dawn and dusk to ambush baitfish, while juveniles stay shallower over weed and gravel. They avoid brackish, muddy or very shallow water and are rarely caught in harbours. Strong current pushing onto a point or a submerged ridge concentrates them, and they patrol the same routes day after day, so a proven mark is worth returning to. In winter they retreat to deeper, more stable water.

Season and behaviour

Spawning takes place in spring, from March to May, and the pre- and post-spawn weeks from April to June are a prime period, with large fish feeding aggressively in relatively shallow water. Summer sport is a dawn-and-dusk affair as the fish hold deep in the bright midday hours; the second peak comes from September to November, when dentex feed heavily on shoals of picarel, sardine, mackerel and squid before winter. Dentex are visual hunters that favour clear water, a moving tide and a light chop; flat calm and bright sun push them deep. They strike hard and run straight for rock, so the first seconds of the fight decide everything.

Fishing methods

Slow trolling with a live bait is the classic dentex method: a live squid, small mackerel or picarel on a two-hook trace, taken down to 10–30 m with a lead, a paravane or a downrigger and trolled at walking pace along drop-offs and points. Deep trolling with large diving plugs on a lead-core or wire line covers ground faster. Vertical jigging with 80–200 g slow-pitch or long jigs over reef edges has become the most popular sporting method, and inchiku and kabura-style jigs tempt fish that ignore fast jigs. From an anchored or drifting boat, a live bait or a large fresh bait ledgered on rocky ground at dawn is deadly. Shore anglers reach dentex only from deep-water rocks, with heavy spinning gear, live bait under a float or a bottom rig cast far. Use braid of 20–30 lb, a strong fluorocarbon leader of 0.50–0.80 mm and a tight drag.

Baits and lures

Dentex want live, moving prey. A live squid is the top bait, followed by a live mackerel, horse mackerel, picarel or small bream, presented on a two-hook trace so the fish is hooked when it strikes at the head. Dead baits – a whole fresh squid, cuttlefish, sardine or mackerel – work on the bottom at dawn and dusk. Artificial lures should be large and natural: 15–20 cm deep-diving plugs in mackerel or sardine patterns for trolling, and metal jigs of 80–200 g in silver, pink, blue and glow finishes for vertical work.

Tips from the bank

1. 01Fish the first and last hour of light along a drop-off in 10–30 m – this is when the biggest dentex come shallow.
2. 02Troll slowly, at walking pace, and keep the live bait within a few metres of the bottom along the edge.
3. 03Rig live baits with a second hook near the tail, because dentex often hit the head first and then turn.
4. 04Set the drag tight before the strike and lift immediately – a dentex that reaches the rock is a lost fish.
5. 05Note the exact route and depth of every take; dentex patrol the same paths and the mark will produce again.
6. 06In spring and autumn on a moving tide, fish the up-current side of points and ridges where baitfish stack up.
7. 07Choose a strong fluorocarbon leader over wire – dentex are line-shy in clear water despite their teeth.

Where to catch Common dentex

Waters where Shoalmap's fishing reports list Common dentex.

• Sea
• Jadransko more / Mare Adriatico / Deti Adriatik
• Sea

Related species

• Gilthead seabream
  Sparus aurata

  The gold-browed bream of shallow bays and lagoons – wary, strong and superb on the table.

• European seabass
  Dicentrarchus labrax

  The silver predator of surf, rocks and estuaries — Europe's premier shore game fish.

• Atlantic mackerel
  Scomber scombrus

  The fast, striped shoal fish that lights up summer coasts.

Frequently asked questions