Gilthead seabream

Quick facts

How to identify it

An oval, laterally compressed body with a steep forehead, a small mouth and thick lips. The colour is silvery-grey with a dark blotch at the start of the lateral line above the gill cover and a bright golden bar across the forehead, edged in black. The dorsal fin is single and continuous, the tail forked with dark edges. Inside the mouth are four to six conical front teeth backed by rows of flat, molar-like crushing teeth, which no other common bream has to the same degree. It is confused with the white seabream (which carries a black saddle at the tail root) and with young dentex, which are slimmer and have prominent canines instead of molars.

Where it lives

Gilthead seabream live inshore over sand, seagrass meadows, mixed rock and sand and mussel beds, usually in 1–30 m of water and often within a rod-length of the bank. They enter coastal lagoons, salt marshes, estuaries and harbour basins in spring, tolerating low salinity and warm water, and are common around mussel farms, piers, breakwaters and river mouths where shellfish concentrate. Juveniles and mid-sized fish patrol the shallows in loose groups; large solitary fish hold on deeper rock edges and drop-offs. In late autumn, as inshore water cools, the adults move out to deeper, more stable water and become far harder to reach from the shore.

Season and behaviour

Spawning takes place offshore from October to December, after which the fish stay deep through the coldest months. From late spring they return to the shallows and feed with increasing intensity through summer; the peak for shore anglers is late summer and autumn, when fat fish gather at lagoon mouths and channels before leaving. The gilthead is a daytime and twilight feeder that uses the rising tide to push onto flats where it digs for cockles, mussels, worms and crabs; bites often come in short bursts on the flood. Warm, calm, clear water suits it, but a light chop or a little colour after a storm makes big fish bolder in shallow water. It is notoriously cautious – any resistance from the line and the bait is dropped.

Fishing methods

Most gilthead are caught on bottom tackle from the shore: a light surfcasting or beach rod of 3.6–4.2 m, a running lead of 30–100 g and a long, fine fluorocarbon trace of 0.25–0.35 mm with a single strong hook. Cast to sand patches between weed or rock, keep the line taut and hold the rod – the bite is a series of taps followed by a sudden pull as the fish crushes the bait and turns. In calm, shallow water a free-lined or lightly weighted bait drifted downtide, or a sliding float set just above the bottom, gives a more natural presentation. Boat anglers ledger over mussel beds and rough ground in 10–30 m. Light lure fishing with small soft plastics, small shrimp imitations or slow-jigs on a light rod is increasingly productive around harbours and lagoon channels.

Baits and lures

Gilthead feed on hard-shelled food, so shellfish and crustacean baits lead: a peeled mussel or a whole small mussel, a hermit crab out of its shell, a small live shore crab, raw shrimp or prawn, and razor clam. Ragworm and other marine worms work well for the mid-sized fish, and a strip of squid or cuttlefish is the toughest option for rough ground. Bait must be fresh and well presented – a tidy bait on a sharp hook outfishes a bulky lump. A little crushed mussel or a mash of bread and sardine dropped upwind draws fish onto the spot.

Tips from the bank

1. 01Fish the flood tide over shallow sand and weed flats – gilthead follow rising water onto ground that is dry at low tide.
2. 02Use a long, fine fluorocarbon trace and a running lead so the fish feels no resistance when it picks up the bait.
3. 03Hold the rod and wait for the pull; striking on the first taps pulls the bait away from a crushing, not swallowing, fish.
4. 04Look for mussel beds, harbour walls and lagoon channels – wherever shellfish concentrate, so do gilthead.
5. 05Crush a few mussels and drop them near your bait as groundbait to hold fish on the spot.
6. 06Keep hooks strong and freshly sharpened; the molar-like teeth flatten thin wire and blunt points quickly.
7. 07Late summer and autumn, especially around lagoon mouths, produce the heaviest fish of the year from the shore.

Where to catch Gilthead seabream

Waters where Shoalmap's fishing reports list Gilthead seabream.

• Sea
• Laguna di Levante
• Laguna di Ponente
• Jadransko more / Mare Adriatico / Deti Adriatik
• Levantine Sea
• بحيرة التمساح
• بحيرة قارون
• Sea

Related species

• Common dentex
  Dentex dentex

  The blue-flecked, big-toothed predator of Mediterranean drop-offs.

• European seabass
  Dicentrarchus labrax

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

• Flathead grey mullet
  Mugil cephalus

  The wary, hard-fighting grazer of harbours, estuaries and lagoons.

Frequently asked questions