The African sicklefish (''Drepane africana'') is a species of

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class of bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built fins made of webbings of sk ...

belonging to 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 ...

Drepaneidae ''Drepane'' is a genus of marine and brackish water ray-finned fishes, known commonly as the sicklefishes. It is the only genus in the monotypic percomorph family Drepaneidae. These fish occur in the Indian and western Pacific Oceans, and in the ...

, the sicklefishes. This fish is found in the costal waters of the eastern Atlantic Ocean from the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

and Mauritania south to Angola, including the

Cape Verde Islands Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...

and the islands of the

Gulf of Guinea The Gulf of Guinea (French language, French: ''Golfe de Guinée''; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Golfo de Guinea''; Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''Golfo da Guiné'') is the northeasternmost part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean from Cape Lopez i ...

. It is a coastal species found over sandy and muddy bottoms between depths of , moving into coastal lagoons at sexual maturity.

Taxonomy

The African sicklefish was first formally described as ''Drepane punctata africana'' in 1892 by the Portuguese ichthyologist and carcinologist

Balthazar Osório Balthazar, Balthasar, Baltasar, or Baltazar may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Balthazar'' (novel), by Lawrence Durrell, 1958 * ''Balthasar'', an 1889 book by Anatole France * ''Professor Balthazar'', a Croatian animated TV series, ...

with its type locality given as the west coasts of the islands of

São Tomé São Tomé is the capital and largest city of the Central African island country of São Tomé and Príncipe. Its name is Portuguese for " Saint Thomas". Founded in the 15th century, it is one of Africa's oldest colonial cities. History Álv ...

and

Príncipe Príncipe (; ) is the smaller, northern major island of the country of São Tomé and Príncipe lying off the west coast of Africa in the Gulf of Guinea. It has an area of (including offshore islets) and a population of 7,324 at the 2012 Cens ...

, the two islands which make up the nation of

São Tomé and Príncipe São Tomé and Príncipe, officially the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe, is an island country in the Gulf of Guinea, off the western equatorial coast of Central Africa. It consists of two archipelagos around the two main isla ...

. It is one of three species in the genus '' Drepane'', the only genus in the monogeneric family Drepaneidae which is classified in the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

Moroniformes Moroniformes is an order of ray-finned fishes in the series Percomorpha. Families Moroniformes comprises three families according to the 5th edition of the ''Fishes of the World'': * Moronidae Jordan & Evermann, 1896 * Drepaneidae Gill, 1872 * ...

Description

The African sicklefish has a deep and strongly compressed body, with the front of the body having a steep, slope to the origin of the

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates. Dorsal fins have evolved independently several times through convergent evolution adapting to marine environments, so the fins are not all homologous. They are found ...

. It has a small head with a short snout and a small fleshy-lipped, terminal mouth which its highly protrusible. The teeth are thin and sharp and are arranged in bands in the upper jaw with no teeth in the roof of the mouth. There is a deep incision in the dorsal fin, that fin being supported by 8 or 9 spines and 17 or 18 soft rays, the first forward-pointing spine being very small and visible only in very young fish. The

anal fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported o ...

is supported by 3 spines and 20 or 21 soft rays. The

pectoral fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish aquatic locomotion, swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the vertebral column ...

s are sickle-shaped and extend almost as far as the base of the slightly rounded

caudal fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported only ...

. The

pelvic fin Pelvic fins or ventral fins are paired fins located on the ventral (belly) surface of fish, and are the lower of the only two sets of paired fins (the other being the laterally positioned pectoral fins). The pelvic fins are homologous to the hi ...

s are located on the thorax. The fine scales are ctenoid and cover the body, the bases of dorsal and anal fins and head, apart from the snout and

preoperculum This glossary of ichthyology is a list of definitions of terms and concepts used in ichthyology, the study of fishes. A B C ...

. The margin of the preoperculum is serrated. They have a

lateral line The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelia ...

which shows a strong arch. The overall colour is silvery grey darker on the upper body and nearly white on the belly. There is a series of 8 brown, rather indistinct vertical bars, fading with age, on the flanks. The African sicklefish reaches a maximum published

total length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies, for data used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fishery biology. Overall length Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish measured f ...

of .

Distribution and habitat

The African sicklefish is found along the western coast of Africa from the Canary Islands and Mauritania in the north south to Angola, including the Cape Verde Islands. It is found at depths of , is a neritic, coastal fish which is found in lagoon and estuarine habitats over sandy and muddy bottoms.

Biology

The African sicklefish breeds in estuaries, but not exclusively, although juveniles have not been confirmed as occurring in other habitats. Its diet comprises bivalves and gastropods, as well as fish eggs and detritus. It is often gregarious, and found in

school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

Utilisation

The African sicklefish is commercially fished for human consumption using

Bottom trawling Bottom trawling is trawling (towing a trawl, which is a fishing net) along the seafloor. It is also referred to as "dragging". The scientific community divides bottom trawling into benthic trawling and Demersal zone, demersal trawling. Benthic tra ...

, beach

seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plat ...

s and purse seines, and it is frequently caught as

bycatch Bycatch (or by-catch), in the fishing industry, is a fish or other marine species that is caught unintentionally while fishing for specific species or sizes of wildlife. Bycatch is either the wrong species, the wrong sex, or is undersized or juve ...

in the Gambian trawl fishery targeting

shrimp A shrimp (: shrimp (American English, US) or shrimps (British English, UK)) is a crustacean with an elongated body and a primarily Aquatic locomotion, swimming mode of locomotion – typically Decapods belonging to the Caridea or Dendrobranchi ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2412385 African sicklefish Taxa named by Balthazar Osório Fish described in 1892