Lile piquitinga
No common name
Collection Details
Event Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Clupeiformes (Herrings, Anchovies and Sardines)
Clupeidae (Herrings)
Lile
Lile piquitinga
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.
When citing, please reference the original source rather than this page.
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Synonymy
None / None.
Characters
Body fusi form, slightly compressed; abdomen with scutes forming a distinct keel. No
hypomaxilla; posterior border of gill opening evenly rounded, without fleshy lobes. Dorsal fin placed
slightly anterior to centre point of body; anal fin short and placed well posterior to vertical through posterior dor-
sal-fin base; 7 branched pelvic-fin rays, pelvic-fin origin inserted at about vertical through middle of dor-
sal-fin base. Colour: dorsum blue-green, sides lighter, with very distinct silver stripe from gill opening to
caudal-fin base, equ alling about 3/4 eye diameter in width; dark spot on dorsum at caudal-fin base; fins
hyaline.
Body shape: fusiform / normal. Belly sharply keeled; a well-developed first (anterior) supra-maxilla (cf. Platanichthys platana); hind border of gill opening evenly rounded; no retrorse spine on upper part of maxilla (cf. Rhinosardinia). Closely resembles the Pacific L. stolifera, but caudal fin tips not black. The very bright silver stripe along flank distinguishes it from other similar clupeids in the area. Striking features: none.
Distribution
Venezuela (Nueva Esparta), and
commonly off nor theastern Brazil; may well oc-
cur in the intervening area.
Habitat Associations
Pelagic, in-
shore waters; protected coastal waters, over
muddy bottoms, also in estuar ies and
hypersaline lagoons; very abundant in man-
grove-lined lagoons and beaches, especi ally
south of Margarita Isl and. Caught with beach and
boat seines and with cast nets. Probably little
used for food, but mainly for bait. No separate
statistics reported for this species. Contri butes to
clupeoid catches in western Venezuela only.
Biology
Maximum 12 cm st andard length; commonly to 6 cm st andard length.
Occurs inshore, over muddy bottoms and in brackish or hyper-saline littoral lagoons (Ref. 5217). Forms schools.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2012-08-23. Resilience: High (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: subsistence fisheries.
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.
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