About Boops boops (Linnaeus, 1758)
Boops boops (Linnaeus, 1758), pronounced BOH-ops, gets its name from Ancient Greek βόωψ, which translates literally to 'ox-eyed'. It is commonly known as the boce, bogue, or bogue bream, and is a species of seabream native to the eastern Atlantic. This species occurs off the coasts of Europe, Africa, the Azores, and the Canary Islands, ranging from Norway down to Angola, and is also found in the Mediterranean and Black Seas. It avoids brackish waters including the Baltic Sea. As a demersal and semi-pelagic feeder, it typically lives at depths up to 100 m (330 ft), and is only rarely found as deep as 350 m (1,150 ft). Bogue swim in schools that move up to the surface at night, and feed on seaweed, crustaceans, and some plankton. Fully grown individuals can reach 36 cm (14 in) in length, but average 20 cm (7.9 in). How to determine sex in bogue is unclear. It has been described in different ways: as a species with rudimentary intersexuality that only has a small number of intersex individuals, or as a protogynous intersex species where all individuals start life as females, and some change to male later in life. This species is targeted by commercial fishing, with a total catch of 37,830 tonnes recorded in 2008. European Commission standards divide commercially caught Boops boops into three size categories, ranging from size 3 (with between 32 and 70 fish per kilogram) to size 1 (with no more than 5 fish per kilogram). When it is cleaned and cooked fresh by pan frying, broiling, or baking, it has a good flavor. However, during storage, gut flora from the fish quickly spreads unpleasant flavors into the flesh. This gives the species a limited shelf life: when stored at freezing temperature (0 °C) for a week, or stored slightly above freezing for 2 to 4 days, the cooked taste becomes 'unacceptable quality'. Much of the total catch of Boops boops is used to make fishmeal, or used as bait for tuna fishing. It has also been used as an indicator of microplastic pollution in the Mediterranean Sea.
