''Amblygaster clupeoides'', the bleeker smoothbelly sardinella, blue pilchard, sharp-nosed pilchard, or sharpnose sardine, is a reef-associated marine species of

sardinella ''Sardinella'' is a genus of fish in the family Clupeidae found in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Ocean. They are abundant in warmer waters of the tropical and subtropical oceans. Adults are generally coastal, schooling, marine fish but juv ...

s in the herring family

Clupeidae Clupeidae is a family of ray-finned fishes, comprising, for instance, the herrings, shads, sardines, hilsa, and menhadens. The clupeoids include many of the most important food fishes in the world, and are also commonly caught for production ...

. It is one of the three species of genus ''

Amblygaster ''Amblygaster'' is a small genus of sardinellas in the herring family Clupeidae. It currently contains three species. Species * '' Amblygaster clupeoides'' Bleeker, 1849 (Bleeker's smoothbelly sardinella) * '' Amblygaster leiogaster'' (Valenci ...

''.

Distribution

It is found in the marine waters along Indo-West Pacific regions.

Description

The fish has 13 to 21 dorsal soft rays and 12 to 23 anal soft rays. It grows up to a maximum length of 21 cm. The flank is gold in fresh fish but becomes black while preservation. Belly is more rounded and scutes are not prominent.

Diet

The fish feeds on minute organisms like

copepod Copepods (; meaning "oar-feet") are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat. Some species are planktonic (inhabiting sea waters), some are benthic (living on the ocean floor), a number of species have p ...

s, ''

Mysis ''Mysis'' is a genus of mysid crustaceans in the family Mysidae, distributed mainly in the coastal zone of the Arctic and high boreal seas. Several species also inhabit northern freshwater lakes and the brackish Caspian Sea. Fifteen species are ...

'' and

zooplankton Zooplankton are the animal component of the planktonic community ("zoo" comes from the Greek word for ''animal''). Plankton are aquatic organisms that are unable to swim effectively against currents, and consequently drift or are carried along by ...

. Widely used as bait in the

tuna A tuna is a saltwater fish that belongs to the tribe Thunnini, a subgrouping of the Scombridae ( mackerel) family. The Thunnini comprise 15 species across five genera, the sizes of which vary greatly, ranging from the bullet tuna (max le ...

fishery all along the world, both as a live or dead forms.

References

External links

* Clupeidae Taxa named by Pieter Bleeker Fish described in 1849 Fish of the Indian Ocean Fish of the Pacific Ocean {{Clupeiformes-stub

Distribution

Description

Diet

See also

References

External links