Grey Mullet

Chelon labrosus is a robust-bodied schooling species distinguished by a thick-lipped snout and blue-grey, silver-flanked body marked with faint longitudinal stripes. It feeds by grazing on algae, detritus, and small invertebrates from sediment and rocky surfaces, a habit that makes it an important link in nutrient cycling within coastal and estuarine food webs. Highly tolerant of salinity fluctuations, it moves seasonally between marine and brackish or freshwater environments, often entering harbours, lagoons, and river mouths.

The species has an extensive range spanning the eastern Atlantic from Norway and Iceland to Mauritania and Cape Verde, throughout the Mediterranean and Black Sea, and with additional records in the Americas, Australia, and elsewhere, likely reflecting both natural range and introductions. It relies on estuaries and coastal shallows as nursery habitat before moving to open marine waters as adults.

Its vulnerable status stems from a combination of pressures rather than a single cause. Commercial and recreational fisheries target it throughout its range, while the estuarine and coastal habitats it depends on for spawning and juvenile development are increasingly degraded by development, pollution, and declining water quality. Shifting migration timing linked to changing sea temperatures adds further uncertainty to population dynamics, and population trends are not currently well quantified.

Conservation responses include fisheries management measures in parts of Europe, water quality regulations under frameworks such as the EU Water Framework Directive, and habitat protections within designated marine and estuarine reserves. Monitoring remains incomplete across much of its range.

Given ongoing habitat degradation, fishing pressure, and the absence of reliable population trend data, the species' outlook remains uncertain, warranting continued monitoring and targeted habitat protection.

Thicklip grey mullet inhabit coastal marine waters, estuaries, and lagoons, moving between saltwater and brackish environments throughout their lifecycle. They utilize shallow coastal areas and estuarine systems as critical nursery habitats for juveniles, while adults migrate to deeper offshore waters for spawning.