<p>The ecology of discard and commercial fish plays a crucial role in maintaining balanced ecosystems. It is also essential for assessing the ecological status of marine environments. The Gulf of Antalya is the largest and most oligotrophic area in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. It shows a distinct fish community structure compared to other regions along the Turkish Mediterranean coast and the Turkish seas. The data used in this study were previously published for other fisheries research purposes. They have been reinterpreted here to evaluate ecological differences between commercial and discard fish. A total of 136 species were examined, with 59 classified as commercial and 77 as discards. A marked spatiotemporal contrast in abundance distribution was observed between commercial and discard fish. However, this contrast was less visually evident when considering biomass. Both abundance and biomass were higher for commercial species compared to discards in riverine regions. When fish size was assessed using the biomass-to-abundance ratio, discard fish were found to have heavier specimens than commercial fish. In general, the non-indigenous species (NIS) within commercial and discard groups showed spatial contrasts with indigenous species (IS) in terms of abundance. The Shannon-Wiener diversity index (H’) showed significant differences between commercial and discard groups, particularly in interaction with bottom depth. Cluster analysis revealed that faunistic variables were distinctly grouped for discards and commercials. The spatiotemporal distribution of fish assemblages was primarily clustered by bottom depth range (zone) and, secondarily, by species origin (IS vs. NIS). However, no distinct grouping was found to differentiate discard from commercial fish. Environmental variables affecting discard-environment and commercial-environment relationships were similar. However, the correlations were reversed in sign (positive to negative, or vice versa).</p>