Membras martinica
Rough Silverside
NS
GNR
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Atheriniformes (Silversides)
Atherinopsidae (New World Silversides)
Membras
Membras martinica (Rough Silverside)
Description
Characters
113 mm SL (Martin and Drewry 1978).
Double pairs of dark spots on dorsum (Hubbs et al. 1991).
Usually fewer than 50 scales in lateral series; fewer than 20 anal fin rays (Hubbs et al. 1991).
Elongate, slightly compressed (Martin and Drewry 1978).
Extremely oblique (Martin and Drewry 1978).
Scales ctenoid, rough to the touch; bases of dorsal and anal fin covered with scales; jaws not produced into a beak; snout length equal to or shorter than eye length; scales large (Hubbs et al. 1991).
Distribution
Primarily found in coastal waters from New York southward to Mexico (Hubbs et al. 1991).
Introduced populations abundant in Amistad Reservoir and Falcon Reservoir (Hubbs et al. 1991). Specimen (49 mm TL) collected from the San Gabriel River, near Laneport, TX, at CR 428 (30.6943662°N, 97.2787716°W) on 15 March 2008 (B. Labay, Texas State University, unpublished data).
Habitat Associations
In bays near Maryland, adults found over sandy shores (Schwartz 1964).
Biology
On Gulf coast, ripe between March and August, or September; lull in ripening reported between May and July, bimodality of juvenile size distribution supporting this information; ripe in temperature range of 21.2-30.7 degrees C, and salinity range of 9.4-31.1 ppt; spawning in salinity range of 5-25 ppt (Martin and Drewry 1978).
Immediately outside breaker zone on sandy beaches; the demersal eggs adhere together in large clusters which are carried inshore to intertidal zone by wave action (Martin and Drewry 1978).
Eggs are demersal, adhering together in large clusters which are carried inshore to intertidal zone my wave action (Martin and Drewry 1978).
Unfertilized eggs are spherical, slightly yellowish, almost transparent; micropyle relatively small (Martin and Drewry 1978).
Length-frequency distribution data indicates growth of about 9 mm per month for Gulf coast juveniles in summer (Martin and Drewry 1978).
References
Hubbs, C., R.J. Edwards, and G.P. Garrett. 1991. An annotated checklist of the freshwater fishes of Texas, with keys to identification of species. Texas Journal of Science, Supplement 43(4):1-56.
Martin, F.D., and G.E. Drewry. 1978. Development of Fishes of the Mid-Atlantic Bight: Stromatediae through Ogcocephalidae. Volume VI. Fish and Wildlife Service, Solomons, Maryland. 416 pp.
Schwartz, F.J. 1964. Fishes of the Isle of Wight and Assawoman Bays near Ocean City, Maryland. Chesapeake Science 5(4):172-193.
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