''Menidia'' 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 ...

Neotropical silversides The neotropical silversides are a family, Atherinopsidae, of fishes in the order Atheriniformes. About 112 species in 13 genera are distributed throughout the tropical and temperate waters of the New World, including both marine and freshwater ha ...

native to freshwater,

brackish Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...

and marine habitats along the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

and

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

coasts of North America, ranging from the

Gulf of Saint Lawrence The Gulf of St. Lawrence is a gulf that fringes the shores of the provinces of Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, in Canada, plus the islands Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, possessions of France, in ...

in Canada to the

Yucatán Peninsula The Yucatán Peninsula ( , ; ) is a large peninsula in southeast Mexico and adjacent portions of Belize and Guatemala. The peninsula extends towards the northeast, separating the Gulf of Mexico to the north and west of the peninsula from the C ...

in Mexico. The species ''M. clarkhubbsi'', an all-female species, reproduces asexually.

Species

There are currently eight recognized species in this genus: *'' Menidia audens''

Hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticate ...

, 1882 (Mississippi silverside) * '' Menidia beryllina'' (

Cope A cope ( ("rain coat") or ("cape")) is a liturgical long mantle or cloak, open at the front and fastened at the breast with a band or clasp. It may be of any liturgical colour. A cope may be worn by any rank of the Catholic or Anglican clerg ...

, 1867) (Inland silverside) * '' Menidia clarkhubbsi'' A. A. Echelle & Mosier, 1982 (Texas silverside) * '' Menidia colei'' C. L. Hubbs, 1936 (Golden silverside) * '' Menidia conchorum''

Hildebrand Hildebrand is a character from Germanic heroic legend. ''Hildebrand'' is the modern German form of the name: in Old High German it is ''Hiltibrant'' and in Old Norse ''Hildibrandr''. The word ''hild'' means "battle" and ''brand'' means "sword" ...

& Ginsburg, 1927 (Key silverside) * '' Menidia extensa'' C. L. Hubbs & Raney, 1946 (Waccamaw silverside) * ''

Menidia menidia The Atlantic silverside (''Menidia menidia''), also known as spearing in the northeastern United States, is a small species of fish that is one of the most abundant fish species present in estuarine habitats along the Atlantic coast of North Amer ...

'' (

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

, 1766) (Atlantic silverside) * '' Menidia peninsulae'' ( Goode & T. H. Bean, 1879) (Tidewater silverside)

References

* * Echelle, Anthony A. and Doyle T. Mosier
"Menidia clarkhubbsi, n. sp. (Pisces: Atherinidae), an All-Female Species."
''Copeia'', Vol. 1982, No. 3 (Aug. 10, 1982), pp. 533–540 Extant Pliocene first appearances Ray-finned fish genera Taxa named by Charles Lucien Bonaparte {{Atheriniformes-stub