Anchoa lamprotaenia
Bigeye Anchovy
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Clupeiformes (Herrings, Anchovies and Sardines)
Engraulidae (Anchovies)
Anchoa
Anchoa lamprotaenia (Bigeye Anchovy)
Description
This species account was compiled from
Composite (multiple sources) (McEachran, J.D. and J.D. Fechhelm. Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. University of Texas Press, Austin.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
It may contain errors in spelling, punctuation, or formatting.
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Characters
Slender and moderately compressed body; short, pointed snout; deeply forked caudal fin; body depth 19-23% SL; head length 25-30% SL; snout length about three-fourths eye length; maxilla with pointed tip, extending posterior to supramaxilla and reaching posterior margin of preoperculum; small jaw teeth; suborbital bone longer than eye diameter; pseudobranch shorter than eye diameter; 17-22 slender gill rakers on lower limb of first arch; upper limb of third gill arch with gill rakers; falcate pectoral fin nearly reaching pelvic fin base; dorsal fin origin slightly posterior to mid-distance between snout tip and caudal fin base, with 13-16 rays; pelvic fin slightly nearer to anal fin origin than to pectoral fin base; anal fin origin below midlength of dorsal fin base, with 18-24 rays; anus nearer pelvic fin tip than to anal fin origin; deciduous scales in 38-41 transverse rows; 39-42 vertebrae
Translucent with silvery stripe along flank; stripe width about three-fourths of eye diameter
Distribution
Western North Atlantic from southern Florida and the Florida Keys, the Bahamas, and the Antilles
Not captured in the Gulf of Mexico, but possibly penetrates into the Gulf by means of the Loop Current
Habitat Associations
Coastal waters, apparently limited to high salinities
Biology
Zooplankton
Maximum known size is 92 mm TL
Spawning occurs in June and July
Occurs in coastal waters, forming dense schools. Not entering the mangrove-lined lagoons of the Venezuelan mainland, but is the dominant species of the Los Roques Archipelago off Venezuela and there found as much in the lagoons as outside them. Frequently caught in mixed schools (with A. mitchilli) in the Miami area. Feeds on zooplankton. Ripe females recorded off Florida in June and July. More data needed.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2012-08-24. Resilience: High (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
Distinguished from other species of the family by the combination of characters described
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: subsistence fisheries.
References
Hildebrand 1963c
Bohlke and Chaplin 1968
C. R. Robins et al. 1986
Whitehead et al. 1988
Whitehead, P.J.P., G.J. Nelson and T. Wongratana (1988) 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(7/2):305-579. Rome: FAO.
Robins, C.R. and G.C. Ray (1986) A field guide to Atlantic coast fishes of North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, U.S.A. 354 p.
Smith, C.L. (1997) National Audubon Society field guide to tropical marine fishes of the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, Florida, the Bahamas, and Bermuda. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York. 720 p.
Vega-Cendejas, M.E., J.M.H. De Santillana and S. Palacios-Sanchez (2023) Length-weight relations of 44 fish species (Actinopterygii) inhabiting an unprotected tropical coastal biological corridor of Yucatan, Mexico. Acta Ichthyol. Piscat. 53:201-207. DOI: 10.3897/aiep.53.110519
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