Engraulidae, Gill, 1861

Freyhof, JÖrg, Yoğurtçuoğlu, Baran, Jouladeh-Roudbar, Arash & Kaya, Cüneyt, 2025, Handbook of Freshwater Fishes of West Asia, De Gruyter : 73-74

Family Engraulidae

Anchovies

Anchovies are one of the most important families of marine fishes from an ecological and commercial perspective. Most are marine, but some tolerate low salinities, and several species migrate into rivers to spawn in brackish or freshwaters. Few are confined to freshwater habitats. Most anchovies are plankton filter feeders and are major prey species in the marine food chains. They are usually small (mostly 80–150 mm SL), and many species school in such numbers that they form the basis of some of the world’s most important fisheries. The Peruvian anchoveta Engraulis ringens has yielded greater catches than any other single wild fish species worldwide, with annual harvests varying between 4.2 and 8.3 million tonnes (2008–2012), almost all used for making fishmeal.Often,catches in Mediterranean and Black Seas are dominated by anchovy Engraulis encrasicolus ( 200,000 to 393,500 tonnes in the Black Sea). This species accounts for almost all of the commercial catches. Most of the harvest is used for the fishmeal industry, primarily to

feed fish in aquaculture. Superficially similar silversides ( Atherinidae ) have two dorsals (vs. one in anchovies). Thrissina mystica and T. whiteheadi have been recorded in the Persian Gulf from the Shatt al Arab and the Hammar Marsh. The genus Thrissina is restricted to the Indo-Pacific, where 38 species are actually recognised. Thrissina can be distinguished from other anchovies accidentally entering freshwaters and brackish estuaries by the upper pectoral ray not extending into a long filament (vs. long pectoral filament present in Setipinna ), 31–45 branched anal rays (less than 25 in Encrasicholina and Stolephorus ) and the anal isolated from the caudal (vs. joined in Coilia ). The taxonomy of Thrissina is not yet settled, and the thryssas of the northern Persian Gulf are only tentatively identified. Other species might occur and should be identified using the key provided. Further reading. Carpenter et al. 1997 (identification, distribution); Hata et al. 2020 ( T. serena ); Hata et al. 2023 (as T. malabarica ); Hata et al. 2025 ( Thrissina mystica ). Hata & Motomura 2020 ( T. serena ). Many thanks to Harutaka Hata ( Japan) for reviewing this chapter.

Key to species of Thrissina in West Asia

1a - Maxilla short, not reaching to edge of gill cover; scutes covering abdomen less than 18. ……………… T. baelama

1b - Maxilla long, reaching to edge of gill cover; scutes covering abdomen 20 or more. ………………2

2a - Maxilla reaching posteriorly beyond pectoral-fin insertion. ………………3

2b - Maxilla not reaching to pectoral-fin insertion. ………………4

3a - Maxillary reaching much beyond pectoral-fin base; 17–19 gill rakers on lower limb of first gill arch. ……………… T. dussumieri

3b - Maxilla reaching to pectoral-fin base; 21–23 gill rakers on lower limb of first gill arch. ……………… T. serena

4a - 25–26 scutes covering abdomen; 18–21 gill rakers on lower limb of first gill arch; 39–43 branched anal rays. ……………… T. whiteheadi

4b - 26–30 scutes covering abdomen; 13–16 gill rakers on lower limb of first gill arch, 34–40 branched anal rays. ……………… T. mystica

Open Access. © 2025 JÖrg Freyhof, Baran Yoğurtçuoğlu, Arash Jouladeh-Roudbar and Cüneyt Kaya, published by De Gruyter. the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

https://doi. org/10.1515/9783111677811-010

This work is licensed under

Thrissina mystica ; Kuwait Bay; 142 mm SL. © J. Randall, Bishop Museum.