Atherina

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: A. boyeri – A. breviceps – A. hepsetus – A. lopeziana – A. presbyter
A. boyeri - A. breviceps - A. hepsetus

Name

Atherina Linnaeus, 1758
Gender: feminine
Type species: Atherina hepsetus Linnaeus, 1758
Fixation: monotypy

Synonyms

Hepsetia˙Bonaparte, 1836

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. Open access Reference page.

Links

Atherina – Taxon details on Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).
Atherina in the World Register of Marine Species

Vernacular names
English: friars

Atherina is a genus of fish of silverside family Atherinidae, found in the temperate and tropic zones. Up to 15 cm long, they are widespread in the Mediterranean, Black Sea, Sea of Azov in lagoons and estuaries. It comes to the low stream of the Dnieper, Southern Bug, Dniester and Danube Rivers.
Fossil of Atherina cavalloi
Species

There are currently five recognized species in this genus:[2]

Atherina boyeri A. Risso, 1810 (Big-scale sand smelt)
Atherina breviceps Valenciennes, 1835 (Cape silverside)
Atherina hepsetus Linnaeus, 1758 (Mediterranean sand smelt)
Atherina lopeziana Rossignol & Blache, 1961
Atherina presbyter G. Cuvier, 1829 (Sand smelt)

Commercial importance

Species of Atherina are objects in the traditional Italian, Catalan, Occitan, south-Ukrainian, Turkish, and Greek cuisine in fried form. The fish are lightly powdered with wheat flour before being dropped in hot olive oil. In Ukraine and Greece, it is commercially important species.[3]
Fossil record

These fishes lived from the Eocene age to Miocene (from 55.8 to 11.608 million years ago). Fossils have been found in Kazakhstan and in Italy.[4]
References

Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Atherina". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2019). Species of Atherina in FishBase. April 2019 version.>
Kottelat, M. & Freyhof, J. (2007): Handbook of European freshwater fishes. Publications Kottelat, Cornol, Switzerland. 646 p.
Paleobiology Database