Common Two-banded Seabream

Photo: Philippe Guillaume · CC BY

Two-banded seabream form dense schools that swarm the reef at Lisca Bianca in extraordinary numbers, their silvery flanks catching the light as they swirl around outcrops and over the posidonia beds. They feed on invertebrates and algae across every habitat type on the site, from the volcanic gas vent areas where they pick off organisms killed by the acidic emissions to the deeper posidonia fringe where they root for buried prey. Their abundance is both an indicator of ecosystem health and a vital prey base for the barracuda and groupers that define the site.