The white seabream is the most common type of seabream in the Mediteranean and can be found on both sandy and rocky bottoms. It has a high, laterally compressed body, with large, pointed, black pectoral fins with a white stripe in the middle. All the odd numbered fins are edged with black, while the caudal fin has a much broader black border. They are generally silver, with 5 vertical black stripes (more clearly visible in smaller specimens) alternating with 4 dark grey ones, plus a black patch on the posterior part of the body, just before the caudal fin, which does not reach the lower edge of the caudal peduncle. In the reproductive period, the upper part of the face turns bluish. It feeds particularly on the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus, whose main predator it is, but only when it has reached maturity and has developed strong teeth, enabling it to ignore the spines and break through the carapace; when young, it eats crustaceans and other benthic invertebrates and even algae. The white seabream lives up to 10 years. It is caught using gillnets, longlines, traps and fishing rods. The minimum size is 23 cm.