Fish
Salema
Sarpa salpa · also called salema porgy, dreamfish
Over a seagrass meadow in the Mediterranean, a shoal of salema drifts and grazes, their gold stripes flashing in the light.
Overview
The salema, Sarpa salpa, is a Least Concern sea bream of rocky shores and seagrass beds from the Bay of Biscay to South Africa and the Mediterranean. Its herbivorous diet, golden stripes, and occasional hallucinogenic effect make it one of the strangest of all food fish.
A fish that can cause dreams
The salema is generally safe to eat, but certain individuals have caused hallucinations and nightmares in people who ate them, a condition thought to arise from the algae they graze.
Status
Least Concern, widespread and abundant.
Salema: common questions
Why is the salema called the dreamfish?
Eating it can sometimes cause hallucinations and nightmares, thought to be due to toxins that come from the algae it eats.
What does the salema eat?
As an adult it is a herbivore, grazing on seaweed and seagrass, while young fish also eat small animals.
Is the salema a sea bream?
Yes, it belongs to the sea bream family, and is related to the gilthead seabream and the black seabream.
Where is the salema found?
It lives in shallow coastal waters of the eastern Atlantic, from the Bay of Biscay to South Africa, and in the Mediterranean.