Atherina hepsetus

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Superclassis/Classis: Actinopterygii
Classis/Subclassis: Actinopteri
Subclassis/Infraclassis: Neopterygii
Infraclassis: Teleostei
Megacohors: Osteoglossocephalai
Supercohors: Clupeocephala
Cohors: Euteleosteomorpha
Subcohors: Neoteleostei
Infracohors: Eurypterygia
Sectio: Ctenosquamata
Subsectio: Acanthomorphata
Divisio/Superordo: Acanthopterygii
Subdivisio: Percomorphaceae
Series: Ovalentaria
Superordo: Atherinomorphae
Ordo: Atheriniformes
Subordo: Atherinoidei

Familia: Atherinidae
Subfamilia: Atherininae
Genus: Atherina
Species: Atherina hepsetus
Name

Atherina hepsetus Linnaeus, 1758

Synonyms

Atherina athaerina Nardo, 1827

References
Primary references

Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae per regna tria naturæ, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis, Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata. Holmiæ: impensis direct. Laurentii Salvii. i–ii, 1–824 pp DOI: 10.5962/bhl.title.542: 315. Reference page.

Additional references

Nardo, G.D 1827. Prodromus observationum et disquisitionum ichthyologiae Adriaticae. Isis von Oken 20(6): col. 473–489.

Links

Atherina hepsetus in FishBase,
Froese, R. & Pauly, D. (eds.) 2023. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication, www.fishbase.org, version 02/2023.
Atherina hepsetus in the World Register of Marine Species

Vernacular names
català: Atherina hepsetus
Deutsch: Großer Ährenfisch
Ελληνικά: Αθερίνα
English: Mediterranean sand smelt
español: Chucleto
français: Sauclet
hrvatski: Gavun
italiano: Latterino sardaro
polski: Ateryna atlantycka
srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски: Gavun
Türkçe: Çamuka
українська: Атерина середземноморська

The Mediterranean sand smelt, Atherina hepsetus, is a species of fish in the family Atherinidae.
Description
Atherina hepsetus

The body is rather long, slender and moderately flattened. The mouth is protrusible, directed upward with small teeth; the head and body are scaly.

The lower jaw has an upper expansion within the mouth (high dentary bone).

Two separate dorsal fins, all rays of first and 1-2 anterior rays of second dorsal fin are unsegmented, with the remaining rays segmented. The anal fin is similar to the second dorsal fin, while the caudal fin is forked. Body is silverish white, darker on the back, with the light blue horizontal stripe extending to the tail.[2]

The maximum size is up to 20 cm in length.[3]

Although rather small, as a carnivorous species, it feeds on pelagic copepods and benthic crustaceans.[3]

In the Mediterranean, it spawns from December to May.[4]
Habitat

It is a pelagic-neritic, brackishwater / marine fish, widespread in the eastern Atlantic coasts of Spain and Morocco including Madeira and the Canary Islands. It is also found in the western Mediterranean, Adriatic and Black Seas.[3]
Fishing

The major small-scale fishing gears exploiting this species are the various coastal beach seines, small mesh size (10 mm) gill nets and lift-nets. Rarely it can be caught on very small hook, baited with small chunks of fish meat. Live Mediterranean sand smelt is excellent bait for many predatory species that feed on this gregarious fish.[2]
Cuisine

The meat is mostly deep fried with larger specimens sometimes prepared as part of mixed fish stew or soup.[2]
References

Papakonstantinou, C.; Pollard, D.; Massuti, E.; Palmeri, A. & Keskin, Ç. (2011). "Atherina hepsetus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2011: e.T194990A8936081. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
"Mediterranean Sand Smelt - Atherina Hepsetus". www.seafishinghowto.com. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2006). "Atherina hepsetus" in FishBase. February 2006 version.

J.C. Hureau. "Fishes of the NE Atlantic and the Mediterranean". Marine Species Identification Portal. p. Sand smelt (Atherina hepsetus). Retrieved 16 July 2019.

Review of Croatian selected scientific literature on species mostly exploited by the national small-scale fisheries PDF file on FAOAdriaMed.org