Derbio
Fish · Last reviewed 2026-08-25
The eastern Atlantic pompano — a fast, deep-bodied jack that comes into the surge along rocky shores and is caught at night from steep ground.
Catching Derbio
Everything here on fishing for it. Each entry opens the page behind it.
- When
- Mar and May and Sept — months recorded at the places that document it, not a season for the whole range.
- Where
- 14 places FishingHQ documents — strongest claim anywhere: established quarry · From the shore
English-language angling writing about pompano is almost entirely about the western Atlantic — the Florida pompano and the permit. The eastern Atlantic has its own, it is called the derbio, and it turns up on a Lanzarote pier in a trip report and in a species-hunting tally without most visiting anglers knowing what to call it.
It is a compact, deep, laterally compressed jack — silver, blunt-headed, with small scales embedded in the skin, a lateral line that is almost straight and no scutes along it, and typically three to five small black spots along the flank. FishBase records a maximum of 70 cm and 2.8 kg.
Where it lives is the interesting part, and the FishBase record contains a tension worth reading properly. The depth range field gives 50 to 200 m, which would put it beyond a shore angler entirely. The biology paragraph says something quite different: adults are moderately common in shallow water in areas of surge, in clear water over sand or mud, forming schools, occasionally entering lagoons and estuaries — and, in terms, that SMALL SPECIMENS ARE REGULARLY CAUGHT AT NIGHT FROM STEEP ROCKY SHORES.
That sentence is the whole shore fishery for it, and it matches both Lanzarote sources exactly: single fish, taken from rock and pier, on light gear, among much smaller quarry. A fish whose depth field looks wrong for a harbour wall and whose biology says it is caught off one is a good argument for reading the whole record rather than the summary line.
Adults feed on small crustaceans, molluscs and fish. It fights hard for its size, as jacks do, and it is a fine table fish across its range.
Where Derbio is documented
Places where public sources describe this species as fished, with how it is fished and how strongly the evidence supports it. This is not a range map and it is not a recommendation — it is what has been written down about a fishery rather than a record of any individual catch, and being listed is never permission to fish.
Madeira
11 documented places
Ribeira Brava, Madeira
Harbour wall
Established quarry
From the shore
Porto Novo, Madeira
Pier
Established quarry
From the shore
Porto da Cruz, Madeira
Rock mark
Established quarry
From the shore
Câmara de Lobos
Bay
Established quarry
From the shore
The Funchal waterfront
Harbour wall
Established quarry
From the shore
Machico
Bay
Established quarry
From the shore
Ponta de São Lourenço
Headland
Established quarry
From the shore
Porto Moniz
Rock platform
Established quarry
From the shore
Seixal
Cove
Established quarry
From the shore
Lanzarote
2 documented places
The cliff coast between Puerto del Carmen and Puerto Calero
Rock mark
Recorded here
From the shore
Reported May
Puerto del Carmen harbour, Lanzarote
Harbour wall
Recorded here
From the shore
Reported Sept
The Azores
1 documented place
Ponta Delgada harbour, São Miguel
Harbour wall
Recorded here
From the shore
Reported Mar
What these strengths mean
- Recorded here
- At least one credible public account of this species being caught here. That is all it means.
- Established quarry
- Fishing sources describe this as a normal local target here, not merely as caught.
Identification
No photograph of Derbio has passed identity review yet, so none is shown. FishingHQ publishes a species photograph only once somebody has confirmed the animal in it against the species record’s own diagnostic features.
- Scientific name
- Trachinotus ovatus
- Family
- Carangidae
- Water
- Saltwater, Brackish
- Conservation status
- Least Concern
- Regions
- Western Europe, Mediterranean, West Africa, Britain & Ireland
- Deep, strongly compressed silver body with a blunt, steep head profile — a jack shape rather than a bream shape.
- Usually three to five small dark spots in a line along the flank, though they can be faint or absent.
- Lateral line very slightly arched over the pectoral and straight thereafter, with NO bony scutes — which separates the pompanos from the scad and horse mackerel.
- Two dorsal fins, the second with 23 to 27 soft rays, and an anal fin with two detached spines in front of it.
- Small cycloid scales partly embedded in the skin, giving it a smooth, almost scaleless feel.
Size
- Typical
- 200–600 g (7 oz–1.3 lb)
- Large
- 1–2 kg (2.2–4.4 lb)
Exceptional: FishBase records a maximum of 70 cm and 2.8 kg
Lifecycle and reproduction
Pelagic-neritic, and the FishBase depth field of 50 to 200 m describes only part of it: the biology records adults as moderately common in shallow water in areas of surge, over sand or mud in clear water, schooling, and occasionally entering lagoons and river estuaries. Both readings are on the same record and the shallow one is the fishery.
Eggs are pelagic. Beyond that the reproductive biology is not well documented on the FishBase record, and it is left there rather than filled in from the better-studied western Atlantic pompanos, which are different species in a different ocean.
Feeding and senses
Adults feed on small crustaceans, molluscs and fishes. It is an active schooling hunter that works the broken water where surge meets structure, which is why the shore captures come from steep ground rather than from flat sand.
A sight hunter in clear, moving water. Its association with surge is the practically useful fact: it works the aerated, disturbed zone where small prey is being tumbled, which is the water a shore angler can reach and the water most anglers avoid fishing.
Through the year
Warmer months bring it inshore across its range, and it reaches British and Scandinavian water only as a rare vagrant. In the Canaries it is available through the year, with the documented shore captures on record falling in May and September.
Distribution
Eastern Atlantic: Bay of Biscay, British and Scandinavian waters (rare vagrant) to Angola, including the Mediterranean Sea and offshore islands
This is a biological range — where the species occurs, not a prediction that you will catch one. To browse the fishing geography FishingHQ holds, start at fishing places.
Why anglers care
The eastern Atlantic's pompano, and a genuine shore prize on the Macaronesian islands. FishBase records small fish as regularly taken at night from steep rocky shores, which is precisely where both documented Lanzarote captures came from — one from a pier in September on squid, one from rock with deep water close in during May on light tackle. It fights hard for its weight, and on tackle scaled for wrasse and bream it is the fish that gets away.
Handling and returning
No spines or teeth of consequence, and the problem is the fight rather than the fish: a jack of any size runs hard and keeps running at the net. Support a larger fish horizontally under the belly, keep it in the water while unhooking, and let it recover against the current before releasing.
Where to go next
Where it lives
More fish
Not related to this page — just the rest of the section. There is little else joined to this subject yet, and a short page should still lead somewhere.
Sources and evidence
- FishBase: a global information system on fishes — Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds. — FishBase Consortium (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Family, maximum size, depth range, environment, distribution and the IUCN assessment for Trachinotus ovatus. FishBase's biology paragraph records adults in shallow water in areas of surge and small specimens regularly caught at night from steep rocky shores, alongside a depth-range field of 50 to 200 m.States this directlyPassage read and verified
- The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — International Union for Conservation of Nature (Conservation authority)Relied on for: The Least Concern assessment for Trachinotus ovatus, assessed 10 May 2013.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Species hunting adventures on Lanzarote — a four-part shore diary with a full tally — Something Fishy Going On (angling blog), parts also posted to World Sea Fishing, 2014 (Practitioner report)Relied on for: That this species is taken from named public shore marks on Lanzarote, how many were caught across one week in May, and the light-tackle methods and baits that took them.States this directlyPassage read and verified
Why the 3 connections on this page are here, and the sources
How it is caught
What experienced anglers do — 1 connection
Widely and independently recommended by experienced anglers and specialist sources. This is real angling knowledge, not proof: controlled evidence for it is limited, and FishingHQ records it as convention rather than as a demonstrated effect.
Surfcasting
FishBase states the shore capture directly rather than leaving it to be inferred from the depth field, which reads 50 to 200 m and would exclude a shore fishery entirely. Both documented Lanzarote captures came from exactly that ground — one from a pier in September on squid, one from rock with deep water close in during May.
- FishBase: a global information system on fishes — Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds. — FishBase Consortium (Scientific institute)Relied on for: That small specimens of Trachinotus ovatus are regularly caught at night from steep rocky shores, and that adults are moderately common in shallow water in areas of surge.States this directlyPassage read and verified
- Canary Islands regional angling guidance sites — Various Canary-based angling and island guidance publishers (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Canary shore angling practice from rock and mole, and the tackle and baits used from steep ground.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Where it lives
Backed by research — 2 connections
Supported by peer-reviewed research or fisheries science. The sources are listed and can be checked.
Estuary
FishBase records it as occasionally entering lagoons and river estuaries. `Occasionally` is carried through rather than smoothed away, because a fish that sometimes enters brackish water is not an estuary fish.
- FishBase: a global information system on fishes — Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds. — FishBase Consortium (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Environment, depth range, habitat association and distribution for Trachinotus ovatus.States this directlyPassage read and verified
Rocky shores and reefs
FishBase records adults as moderately common in shallow water in areas of surge and small specimens as regularly caught at night from steep rocky shores, which is a habitat statement the depth-range field alone would hide.
- FishBase: a global information system on fishes — Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds. — FishBase Consortium (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Environment, depth range, habitat association and distribution for Trachinotus ovatus.States this directlyPassage read and verified
How FishingHQ labels evidence is explained in the evidence policy.