Anchoviella guianensis
Guyana Anchovy
Collection Details
Specimens
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Clupeiformes (Herrings, Anchovies and Sardines)
Engraulidae (Anchovies)
Anchoviella
Anchoviella guianensis (Guyana Anchovy)
Description
This species account was compiled from
Composite (multiple sources) (Carpenter, K.E. (ed.) 2002. The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes. FAO, Rome.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
It may contain errors in spelling, punctuation, or formatting.
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Synonymy
None / None.
Characters
Body fairly slender, moderately compressed, body depth 4 to 5 times in st andard
length. Snout short, slightly longer than 1/2 eye diameter; lower jaw symphysis posterior to tip of snout;
maxilla moderate, tip bluntly rounded, failing to reach preoperculum by 1/3 to 1/2 pupil diameter; fine
teeth in lower jaw. Pseudobranch short, less than eye diameter. Lower gill rakers 20 to 26; gill c over canals of
walkeri-type. Anal fin short, with 14 to 18 branched rays, its origin slightly posterior to vertical through
posteriormost dorsal-fin ray. Axillary scale of pectoral fin reaching only to about midpoint of fin. Col-
our: midlateral silver stripe, widening to about 1/2 eye diameter over anal-fin base.
Body shape: elongated. Body fairly slender, moderately compressed. Snout short, a little over 1/2 eye diameter; maxilla moderate, tip bluntly rounded, failing to reach pre-operculum by 1/3 to 1/2 pupil diameter; gill cover canals of walkeri-type. Anal fin short, its origin a little behind base of last dorsal fin ray. A silver stripe along flank, widening to about 1/2 eye diameter over anal fin base (Ref. 189). Striking features: none.
Distribution
Western central and south Atlan-
tic, Gulf of Paria to Brazil; also Orinoco system,
as far up as Puerto Gaitan on Manacacias River
in Colombia, certainly in delta; lower parts of
rivers of Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana;
lower part of Amazon (but lower lim its within Am-
azon system not known).
Habitat Associations
Occurs in low
salinity brackish waters, but predominantly in
fresh water. Breeding occurs in December, one
female (58 mm st andard length) contained 1 980
eggs.
Biology
Maximum 9 cm total length; commonly to 6 cm total length.
Occurs in estuaries and rivers, apparently tolerating only very low salinities. Breeds in December: a female of 5.8 cm SL having 2,000 eggs was caught from the Orinoco River mouth (Ref. 12225)..
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none. Spawn in school (Ref. 205).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2017-03-06. Resilience: Medium (Fec=1,980).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Probably contri butes to l andings of
artisanal river fisheries.
References
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.
James, A.G. (1988) Are clupeid microphagists herbivorous or omnivorous? A review of the diets of some commercially important clupeids. S. Afr. J. Mar. Sci. 7:161-177.
Bayley, P.B. (1988) Factors affecting growth rates of young tropical floodplain fishes: seasonality and density-dependence. Environ. Biol. Fishes 21(2):127-142.
Joyeux, J.-C., T. Giarrizzo, R.M. Macieira, H.L. Spach and T. Vaske Jr. (2008) Length-weight relationships for Brazilian estaurine fishes along a latitudinal gradient. J. Appl. Ichthyol. 24(1):1-6.
Comments On Anchoviella guianensis