Generality
The sea bream is a sea bony fish belonging to the Sparidae family, Genus Sparus, Species aurata; the binomial nomenclature is Sparus aurata L.
The body of the sea bream is covered with silvery scales, tending to gray on the back and whitish on the belly. The fins are the same color as the body and, at times, the dorsal one (with spiny and soft rays) and the caudal typical black border The pectoral, ventral and anal fins are normally developed.
The sea bream can reach considerable dimensions (up to 7-8 kg in weight) but the commercial size provides for the capture and distribution of very young specimens; the average size of the farmed sea bream (carried out in intensive fish farming or extensive valley farming) is about 350g of weight for 20-40cm of length (about 2-3 years of life).
The sea bream is a hermaphrodite fish proterandro (from proterandry), that is, born univocally equipped with male gonads, which are reversed to female ONLY reaching a certain size; also for this reason it would be essential that the wild sea bream be harvested selectively, keeping only specimens weighing more than 400-500g (thus giving the sparid the possibility to carry out at least one or two reproductive cycles). However, this important concept it seems unknown (mostly ignored) both to professional fishermen and to those "sporting" with rods. Among the latter - having the possibility of releasing - those who do not carry out a selection fishing and take a large number of specimens (in conjunction with the migratory exodus into the lagoon) show little respect for the sea and the environment.
Habits and diffusion of the sea bream
The sea bream is a species present both in the Mediterranean basin and in the Atlantic ocean (European side - from England to the middle of the African continent); it has coastal habits but it is not uncommon to encounter large schools even in the open sea, near the hats of shoals (even deep) or on manufacturing architectural structures (eg. methane extraction platforms or wrecks). As anticipated, the sea bream makes considerable displacements for reproduction and, despite being a saltwater fish, exceptional (as much as the sea bass) is the brackish water near lagoons and river mouths. It feeds mainly on invertebrates (molluscs, crustaceans, worms and annelids) and completes the reproductive cycle in the late autumn period.
Gastronomy and nutritional characteristics of the sea bream
Sea bream is one of the most widespread and valuable fishery products of the Mediterranean Sea; in Italy it represents - together with sea bass, grouper, tuna, swordfish and red snapper - the most appreciated and consumed fish. "sea bream enjoys a rather affordable retail cost, even if the qualitative difference between an intensively farmed fish (with the use of feed in pellets based on animal flours) and a wild one is rather marked; a good compromise is constituted by the sea bream.
In the kitchen, sea bream lends itself to any type of preparation, but the size and origin can be extremely useful variables to favor one or the other culinary destination. The freshly caught sea bream can be eaten: raw (with carpaccio or as sushi), baked (natural, baked, in vegetable crust, etc.), grilled (with coal or wood, direct gas or on stone lava, on electric resistances), in a pan (even fillets only), boiled or steamed (in a pot or in a pressure cooker), soaked etc.
The larger specimens (> 2-3kg), if not prepared in foil (however rather challenging), need to be dismembered into slices or fillets, as grilling or baking would be particularly laborious.
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Salt fish
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Sea bream is basically a lean fish but, as for sea bass, it has a fairly evident difference between farmed fish (more fatty) and caught fish (over 250% less fat); I therefore suggest to always prefer fairly mild cooking. , not too intense or prolonged, which can cause dehydration / draining of the water and fat contained in excess in the meat and under the skin. Furthermore, ai gourmet of the "crudities", I suggest you absolutely AVOID farmed fish; the feed used gives an unpleasant odor to the fatty tissue, making the fish unsuitable for this kind of preparation.
Some also use sea bream to compose the filling of stuffed pasta.
Sea bream contains a good portion of polyunsaturated (but not in the same quantities as blue fish) and monounsaturated fatty acids, while the cholesterol intake is moderate; therefore it lends itself to the diet against overweight and to the diet for the treatment of dyslipidemias (hypercholesterolemia or hypertriglyceridemia).
The energy supply is mainly provided by high biological value proteins (with limiting amino acid leucine) and to a lesser extent by fatty acids (with a prevalence of monounsaturated or polyunsaturated depending on whether it is a farmed or wild "sea bream).
The vitamin supply is good and favors the concentrations of niacin (vit. PP) and riboflavin (vit. B2).
Nutritional composition of sea bream - Reference values of the INRAN Food Composition Tables
Comparison Sea bream, wild, fresh, fillets, Sea bream, farmed, fresh, fillets and Sea bream, frozen
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