Author: Nardo, 1827
Aphanius fasciatus Nardo, 1827
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Aphanius fasciatus (Valenciennes, 1821) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: D (8) 10-12 (13); A 9-12 (13). Scales in longitudinal series (23) 25-27 (30). Colour: male greenish-brown, white below; 10-12 brown vertical stripes, alternating with narrower silvery-white lines; fins yellow, caudal fin usually with a black band. Female paler, vertical stripes not reaching back and belly, fins white. Size: to 7.2 cm (females) or 6 cm (males).
Habitat: marine shores, lagoons, rarely in pure freshwater. Food: mainly small invertebrates. Reproduction: from March to June (Sardinia). Hybridizes with A. iberus (Algeria) and A. dispar (Lake Timsah, L Egypt)
Distribution: Mediterranean basin, except the westernmost part (Italy, Corsica, Sardinia, Malta, Dalmatia, Greece, Marmara Sea, Anatolia, Cyprus, Syria, Tsrael, North Africa from Egypt (including the Suez Canal) to eastern Algeria.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Lepori, 1882: 481 | Mazza, 1897: 330, fig. B-D; 1902: 181, 3 pl.
Otoliths (sagitta). Frost, 1926b: 475, pl. 21 (fig. 6) | Weiler, 1963: 28, fig. 82-83.