Relevant synonyms* Dussumieria productissima * Note: this species was considered until recently in the Mediterranean as D. acuta. Wangratana's (1980) clearly separated D. acuta and D. elopsoides. Whithead (1985) and Randall (1996) showed that D. elopsoides occurs in the Mediterranean. Misidentification Dussumieria acuta Meristic formula D, 16-21; A, 14-18; P, 14-18; V, 8; GR, 19-26  photo : David Darom

SHORT DESCRIPTION Body elongated, slightly compressed with round belly. Snout pointed. Caudal fin forked. Pelvic fin situated behind midpoint. A single W-shaped scute at pelvic fin base. Very delicate scales, easily detached. color : bluish grey on back, silvery on the sides. size : common 8 - 18 (max. 20). DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS Etrumeus teres and Spratelloides delicatulus: origin of dorsal fin in front of midpoint. Other clupeids: series of scutes along the belly. BIOLOGY / ECOLOGY Shoaling species. Feeds on zooplankton, mainly crustacean and early stages of fishes. Eggs and larvae planktonic. habitat : pelagic, mainly inshore.

1st MEDITERRANEAN RECORD Israel, 1949. DISTRIBUTION Worldwide : Red Sea, east Africa down to Somalia, Indian Ocean, the Philippines and northern Australia. Mediterranean : recorded first as Dussumieria sp., Israel (Lissner, 1949). Successive records off Turkey (Ben-Tuvia, 1953b) and Egypt (El Sayed, 1994). ESTABLISHMENT SUCCESS Very common in the Eastern Basin. speculated reasons for success : unknown. MODE OF INTRODUCTION Via the Suez Canal. IMPORTANCE TO HUMANS Caught by purse seine along eastern Levant coasts.

KEY REFERENCES Ben-Tuvia A., 1953 b. New Erythrean fishes from the Mediterranean coast of Israel. Nature, 172:464-465. El-Sayed R.S., 1994. Check-list of Egyptian Mediterranean fishes. National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Alexandria, Egypt. 77 + IX pp. Lissner H., 1949. Sardine fishing in Israel. Sea fisheries Research Station, Scientific Technical Information, 2: 1-25.   Whitehead P.J.P., 1985. Clupeoid fishes of the world (suborder Clupeodei). Part1 - Chirocentridae, Clupeidae and Pristigasteridae. FAO Species Catalogue 7. FAO, UN, Rome. X+303 pp. FEEDBACK / COMMENTS TO AUTHORS

Last update of the species sheet: March 2001 ©ciesm 2002