Common Name
Falklands Sprat
Year Described
Jenyns, 1842
Identification
Dorsal Fin: 13-21
Anal Fin: 12-23
Pelvic Fin: 7 branched (rarely 6)
Pectoral Fin: 16-18
Ventral Scutes:
Vertebrae: 49-51
Gill Rakers: <50 (first arch)
Body fusiforme, slender and compressed. Posterior gill margin rounded with no fleshy lobes. Eye a little smaller than snout length. Upper jaw without median notch and reaching to middle of eye. Lower jaw projecting. Pterotic bulla absent (present in Ramnogaster). No backward pointing spine on maxilla. Dorsal and ventral profiles convex. Dorsal fin origin well past midbody and has a concave margin. Pelvic fin under dorsal fin origin. Anal fin low with origin under last dorsal ray. Pectoral fin low on chest. Tail forked. Body scaled. Ventral scutes with strong keels.
Color
Body silvery with an abruptly dark blue back. Dorsal fin pale.. Tail dark. Ventral fins clear.
Size
Maximum size to 18cm SL, but usually to 15cm SL.
Habitat
Shallow coastal pelagic. Forms large schools.
Range
Argentina to Chile, including the Falklands Is.
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.