Atherina presbyter

Author: presbyter Cuvier, 1829

Atherina (Hepsetia) presbyter Cuvier, 1829

Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Atherina (Hepsetia) presbyter Cuvier, 1829 (updated 2009-06-25)

Diagnosis: head length more than four times in TL. Dorsal finrays VII-IX, I + 11-14; anal finrays I + 14-17. Scales in longitudinal series 52-57. Gillrakers 28-33. Vertebrae 46-52 (Morocco 46-49, the Netherlands 49-52). Size: to 20 cm, usually 12-16 cm.

Habitat: littoral. Behaviour: schooling, sometimes in low-salinity water. Seasonal migrations along Atlantic coasts. Food: carnivorous—small crustaceans, fish larvae. Reproduction: midsummer in English Channel and North Sea. Age and growth: to 3-4 years. When 1 year old 7 cm (British Isles).

Distribution: Atlantic from Kattegat (rare) and Scotland to Morocco, Madeira. Rare in Mediterranean (found off Gibraltar; France: Port-Vendres, Marseilles; Tunisia: Tunis).

Eggs, larvae and young stages. Holt, 1899b: 52, pl. 9 (fig. 92-99) | Ehrenbaum, 1905: 130, fig. 59.
Otoliths (sagitta). Scott, 1906: 60, pl. IIIB (fig. 34-35), pl. V (fig. 22-26) | Sanz Echeverría, 1926: 149, fig. | Frost, 1929a: 121, pl. I (fig. 5) | Chaine, 1958, pl. 6.