Ehiravidae, Deraniyagala, 1929

Freyhof, JÖrg, Yoğurtçuoğlu, Baran, Jouladeh-Roudbar, Arash & Kaya, Cüneyt, 2025, Handbook of Freshwater Fishes of West Asia, De Gruyter : 71-72

Family Ehiravidae

Dwarf sprats

A small family of about 27 species in 11 genera. They are mostly small, tropical, and subtropical herrings, mostly found in brackish and freshwaters; few are of commercial importance. Ehiravidae includes several pure freshwater species, such as the Southeast Asian genus Sundasalanx , paedomorphic fishes reaching up to 30 mm SL. In West Asia, the only genus entering freshwaters is Clupeonella (tyulkas). They are a small group of brackish water species endemic to the Marmara, Black, and Caspian Sea basins where they frequently inhabit coastal lagoons,backwaters, and the slow-flowing sections of lower rivers. One species, C. abrau from Lake Abrau in Russia, is endemic to a small lake close to the coast. In freshwaters of West Asia, we recognise one species, C. cultriventris . Two additional tyulkas, C. engrauliformis and C. grimmi , are endemic to the Caspian Sea, both strictly marine and not reported to enter freshwater habitats. Clupeonella tscharchalensis is a freshwater species that inhabits rivers in the northern Caspian basin. It is described from Lake Chelkar ( 47°50′N 59°36′E) in Kazakhstan. Until further studies are conducted on tyulkas from Lake Chelkar, we classify C. tscharchalensis as a valid species with fewer gill rakers than C. cultriventris . Further reading. Hoestlandt 1991a (diversity, distribution, biology); Kottelat & Freyhof 2007 (diversity).

Key to species of Clupeonella in West Asia

1a - Pectoral tip rounded; interorbital distance 13–15 % SL (42–51 gill rakers). ……………… C. grimmi

1b - Pectoral tip pointed; interorbital distance 16–18 % SL. ………………2

2a - Ventral keel soft; body depth 16–19 % SL; 56–67 gill rakers. ……………… C. engrauliformis

2b - Ventral keel hard; body depth 18–25 % SL; 49–62 gill rakers. ……………… C. cultriventris

Clupeonella grimmi, Caspian Sea , Iran; 100 mm SL.

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https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111677811-009

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Clupeonella cultriventris ; Lower South Bug, Ukraine; ~ 75 mm SL.