Common Name
River Plate Sprat
Year Described
Regan, 1917
Identification
Dorsal Fin: 13-16
Anal Fin: 17-23
Pelvic Fin: 5-6 branched
Gill Rakers: 35-43 (first arch)
Body fusiforme, rather deep, and compressed. Posterior gill margin rounded with no fleshy lobes. Eye a little smaller than snout length. Upper jaw without median notch and reaching to middle of eye. Supramaxilla (first anterior) minute or absent. No backward pointing spine on maxilla. Posterior frontal fontanelles retained in adult fish (unique in area clupeids). Dorsal and ventral profiles convex. Dorsal fin origin centered at about midbody and has a concave margin. Pelvic fin under dorsal fin origin. Anal fin low and placed rearward. Pectoral fin tucked in low under gill cover. Tail forked. Body scaled. Ventral scutes with strong keels.
Color
Body bright silvery and yellowish dorsally. A silvery stripe of consistent width (3/4 eye diameter), runs from gill to caudal fin. Fins unmarked yellowish.
Size
Maximum size to 97mm SL but common to 50mm SL.
Habitat
Mainly freshwater but enters brackish estuaries.
Range
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Rio de la Plata, Argentina.
References
Whitehead, P.J.P. 1985. FAO Species Catalogue. Vol. 7. Clupeoid fishes of the world (suborder Clupeoidei). An annotated and illustrated catalogue of the herrings, sardines, pilchards, sprats, shads, anchovies and wolf-herrings. FAO Fish. Synop. 125(7/1):1-303. Rome: FAO.