The pricklenose silverside (''Atherion africanum'') is a species of silverside from the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Atherionidae. It is found in the western Indian Ocean from India to

KwaZulu Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

in South Africa. It is a prey species for many commercially caught larger fish and may be used as bait by fishermen, usually caught at depths of less than . This species was described in 1965 by

James Leonard Brierley 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 ...

from a type locality of

Inhaca Island Inhaca Island (Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''Ilha da Inhaca''), also known as Kanyaka island, is a subtropical island of Mozambique off the East African coast. The main village is Inhaca, situated just over a kilometer from Inhaca Airport. V ...

, Mozambique. It is distinguished from similar species of silverside within its range by the rough,

shagreen Shagreen is a type of rawhide consisting of rough untanned skin, historically from a horse's or onager's back, or from shark or ray. Etymology The word derives from the French ' and is related to Italian and Venetian ''sagrin'', deriv ...

-like skin around its snout.

References

{{Taxonbar, From=Q2663319 Atherion Fish described in 1965