''Chelon'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of mullets found in coastal marine waters,

estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

and rivers in the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

and

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea () is a region of sea in the northern Indian Ocean, bounded on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, Gulf of Aden and Guardafui Channel, on the northwest by Gulf of Oman and Iran, on the north by Pakistan, on the east by India, and ...

Anatomy

''Chelon'' possesses the elongated body and dorsal fins typical of the order

Mugiliformes Mugiliformes is a small order of percomorph fish in the clade Ovalentaria. This order is recognized by the Catalog of Fishes (2025). It contains only two families: * Mugilidae Jarocki, 1822 - mullets (57 species) * Ambassidae Klunzinger, 1870 ...

, with frontal fins defined by four spines and anal fins with soft rays. The maximum sizes described vary between 15 cm for the Cape Verde mullet and 32 cm for the

thicklip grey mullet The thicklip grey mullet, ''Chelon labrosus'', is a coastal fish of the family Mugilidae. It typically is about long, with being the maximum recorded. It is named after its thick upper lip and silvery-grey appearance. It is a common fish of s ...

Habitat

They are

catadromous Fish migration is animal migration, mass relocation by fish from one area or body of water to another. Many types of fish migrate on a regular basis, on time scales ranging from daily to annually or longer, and over distances ranging from a few ...

fishes, meaning that they can be found in lagoons and rivers as well as the sea during the reproductive season, fundamentally feeding on

algae Algae ( , ; : alga ) is an informal term for any organisms of a large and diverse group of photosynthesis, photosynthetic organisms that are not plants, and includes species from multiple distinct clades. Such organisms range from unicellular ...

and

diatoms A diatom (Neo-Latin ''diatoma'') is any member of a large group comprising several Genus, genera of algae, specifically microalgae, found in the oceans, waterways and soils of the world. Living diatoms make up a significant portion of Earth's B ...

Taxonomy

Recent cladistic analysis recovered ''Chelon'' as paraphyletic with respect to ''Liza'', so some species of ''Liza'' were reassigned to ''Chelon'' and ''Liza'' synonymized with ''Chelon''.Durand, J.-D., W.-J. Chen, K.-N. Shen, C. Fu, & P. Borsa. 2012. Genus-level taxonomic changes implied b mitochondrial phylogeny of grey mullets (Teleostei: Mugilidae). Comptes Rendus Biologies, 335: 687-697.

Species

The following species are classified in the genus ''Chelon'': * '' Chelon aurata'' ( A. Risso, 1810) (Golden grey mullet) * ''

Chelon bandialensis The Diassanga mullet (''Chelon bandialensis'') is a species of ray-finned fish, grey mullet from the family Mugilidae. It is found in the eastern Atlantic around the coasts of West Africa. Description The Diassanga mullet has a rounded, rather r ...

Diouf Diouf (French spelling in Senegal) or " Joof" (English spelling in The Gambia) is a Serer surname. Notable people with the name include: * Abdou Diouf (born 1935), second president of Senegal, former Secretary-General of La Francophonie * El Had ...

, 1991 (Diassanga mullet) * '' Chelon bispinosus'' ( S. Bowdich, 1825) (Cape Verde mullet) * '' Chelon dumerili'' (

Steindachner Franz Steindachner (11 November 1834 in Vienna – 10 December 1919 in Vienna) was an Austrian zoologist, ichthyologist, and herpetologist. He published over 200 papers on fishes and over 50 papers on reptiles and amphibians. Steindachner descri ...

, 1870) (Grooved mullet) * '' Chelon labrosus'' ( A. Risso, 1827) (Thicklip grey mullet) * ''

Chelon parsia ''Planiliza parsia'', the goldspot mullet, is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Mugilidae. It is one of 15 species in the genus ''Planiliza''. This species is found in the Indian Ocean in shallow coastal waters of Pakistan, India, Sri La ...

'' (Hamilton, 1822) (Goldspot mullet) * '' Chelon ramada'' ( A. Risso, 1827) (Thinlip grey mullet) * '' Chelon richardsonii'' (

A. Smith A is the first letter of the Latin and English alphabet. A may also refer to: Science and technology Quantities and units * ''a'', a measure for the attraction between particles in the Van der Waals equation * ''A'' value, a measure of s ...

, 1846) (South African mullet) * '' Chelon saliens'' ( A. Risso, 1810) (Leaping mullet) * ''

Chelon tricuspidens ''Chelon tricuspidens'', the striped mullet, is a species of ray-finned fish from the family Mugilidae. It is found in southern Africa where its known range comprises Mossel Bay and the Kosi Estuary in South Africa. Its habitatis muddy areas in ...

'' (

J. L. B. Smith James Leonard Brierley Smith (26 September 1897 – 8 January 1968) was a South African ichthyology, ichthyologist, organic chemist, and university professor. He was the first to identify a taxidermied fish as a coelacanth, at the time thought t ...

, 1935) (Striped mullet)

References

Taxa named by Peter Artedi Marine fish genera {{Mugilidae-stub

Anatomy

Habitat

Taxonomy

Species

See also

References