Author: (Rüppell, 1837)
Herklotsichthys punctatus (Rüppell, 1837)
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Herklotsichthys punctatus (Rüppell, 1837) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: small, moderately compressed silvery fishes resembling young Sardinella; belly with a sharp keel of scutes. Hind border of gill-opening with two distinct fleshy outgrowths; gillrakers few, 29-39 on lower part of first arch; 3-6 fronto-parietal striae (on top of head); lower part of paddle-shaped second supra-maxilla distinctly longer than upper. Pelvic finrays 8. Colour: back blue/green with many small black spots, flanks with a golden or orange midlateral line, silvery below. Size: to 8.5 cm, usually 5-7 cm.
Habitat: coastal pelagic; shoaling. Food: probably zooplankton. Reproduction: not known.
Distribution: an apparently not uncommon immigrant to the eastern Mediterranean from the Red Sea via the Suez Canal (specimens recorded since 1974). Elsewhere, Red Sea, perhaps also coasts of East Africa.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. No data.
Otoliths (sagitta). No data.