Meagre Identification Guide

Key identification features

• Large, elongate, fusiform body with a silvery-bronze sheen and golden highlights on the flanks
• No chin barbel of any kind
• Large mouth with a distinctive yellow or golden lining visible inside
• Long dorsal fin base and a moderately forked tail with a slender caudal peduncle
• Can grow very large, well over 1.5 m and 50 kg in mature adults, among the biggest inshore drums

Common look-alikes

• European seabass: lacks the golden flank sheen and yellow mouth lining, and often shows small black spots scattered on the upper body as a juvenile.
• Corb (Sciaena umbra): much smaller and deeper-bodied, with a darker overall tone and no golden sheen on the flanks.
• Shi drum (Umbrina cirrosa): has a short chin barbel that meagre entirely lacks, plus faint oblique dark stripes along the sides.

Where you'll see one

Meagre are found in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean, favoring coastal waters, estuaries, and river mouths, with large adults often venturing into brackish water and juveniles sheltering in nursery estuaries.