Ammodytes tobianus
No common name
Collection Details
Specimens
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Ammodytidae (Sand Lances)
Ammodytes
Ammodytes tobianus
Description
This species account was compiled from
FishBase (Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2025. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version 04/2025.)
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Characters
Body shape: elongated. Scales present in the midline anterior to dorsal fin and over the musculature at base of caudal fin. Belly scales in tight chevron. Margins of dorsal and anal fins straight with rays of equal length. Lateral line pores linearly arranged along the un branched canals. Back typically sandy brown. Striking features: none.
Distribution
Northeast Atlantic: Murmansk to Spain, including Iceland and the Baltic (Ref. 4674). Reports from the Mediterraneanare misidentications (Ref. 125963). Two distinct but often sympatric spawning groups exist in the area but have not been given subspecies status although spawning groups differ in mean vertebral number (autumn higher than spring), otolith structure, and probably habitats.
Habitat Associations
Brackish, marine. demersal. depth range 1-96 m. Found in: estuaries.
Biology
Territorial; found in inshore waters, especially sandy bays and beaches, including the inter-tidal zone and estuaries; rarely offshore. Alternate between lying buried in the sandy substrate and swimming in schools in the water mass. Adults feed on zooplankton and some large diatoms (Ref. 3397). They hibernate in winter buried in sand at depths of 20-50 cm (Ref. 35388).
Max length: 20.0 cm SL; max age: 7 years.
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders.
IUCN Red List Status: Data Deficient (DD), assessed 2014-03-10. Resilience: Medium (K=0.45-0.77; tm=1-3; tmax=7).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: highly commercial.
References
Whitehead, P.J.P., M.-L. Bauchot, J.-C. Hureau, J. Nielsen and E. Tortonese (eds.) (1986) Fishes of the North-eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. UNESCO, Paris. Vols. I-III:1473 p.
Bauchot, M.-L. (1987) Poissons osseux. p. 891-1421. In W. Fischer, M.L. Bauchot and M. Schneider (eds.) Fiches FAO d'identification pour les besoins de la pêche. (rev. 1). Méditerranée et mer Noire. Zone de pêche 37. Vol. II. Commission des Communautés Européennes and FAO, Rome.
Reay, P.J. (1986) Ammodytidae. p. 945-950. In P.J.P. Whitehead, M.-L. Bauchot, J.-C. Hureau, J. Nielsen and E. Tortonese (eds.) Fishes of the north-eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. UNESCO, Paris. Vol. 2.
Ocean Biogeographic Information System (2006) OBIS-extracted Depth Data. Harvested by E.Agbayani July 2006 at www.iobis.org.
Bogorov, V.G., B.P. Manteifel and A.E. Pavlova (1939) Nutrition of the small sand-eel (Ammodytes tobianus) in Murman waters. Trans. Inst. Mar. Fish. Oceanogr. USSR 4:355-365.
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