Author: Eichwald, 1838
Alosa pontica Eichwald, 1838
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Alosa immaculata Bennett, 1835 (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: body fairly slender, belly with a prominent keel of scutes, upper jaw with a distinct median notch. Gillrakers rather thin, total not more than 75, usually 50-60 on first arch, about length of gill filaments. Colour: back green/blue, flanks silvery white with a pink hue; a dark spot posterior to gill-opening and occasionally additional spots down flank. Size: to 30 cm, usually 20-25 cm.
Habitat: marine pelagic, also penetrating sometimes considerable distances up rivers; shoaling, strongly migratory. Food: mainly small fishes, also crustaceans. Reproduction: anadromous, spawning in mid-May to mid-August in rivers affluent to the Black Sea, reaching to over 1,000 km from the estuary of the Don and about 500 km up the Danube.
Distribution: Black Sea, also Sea of Azov in summer.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. No data.
Otoliths (sagitta). No data.
Note: Alosa brashnikova maeotica of Svetovidov (1952: 254 and 1963: 284) is recognized as a distinct variety or form of A. pontica in Clofnam 33.6.4.2.
Subspecies:
Alosa pontica pontica Eichwald, 1838
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Vladimirov, 1955: 54, fig. 16 | Kryzanowsky, 1956: 6, fig. 1-8.
Otoliths (sagitta). No data.
Alosa pontica pontica var.?
Eggs, larvae and young stages. No data.
Otoliths (sagitta). No data.