Pristigaster cayana, Amazon hatchet herring

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Pristigaster cayana Cuvier, 1829

Amazon hatchet herring
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Pristigaster cayana
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Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Clupeiformes (Herrings) > Pristigasteridae (Pristigasterids)
Etymology: Pristigaster: Greek, pristis = saw + Greek, gaster = stomach (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Cuvier.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Freshwater; brackish; pelagic. Tropical; 1°N - 2°S

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

South America: Amazon drainage (from perhaps mouth of Rio Branco at Goiaçu, Rio Solimões, Rio Juruá and as far as the Río Ucayali in Peru). (There are possibly two species, judging from specimens in the Museu de Zoológia, Sao Paulo).

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 14.5 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 50591); common length : 8.5 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 188)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 45 - 54. Belly profile strongly convex (almost circular from throat to anus), 30 to 33 scutes. Lower jaw projecting, mouth directed almost vertically upward; no toothed hypo-maxillary bone between hind end of pre-maxilla and lower bulge of maxilla blade; eye large. Pectoral fins high on body; anal fin origin behind dorsal fin base; upper caudal fin lobe ending in a filament in larger fishes (Ref. 188).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Occurs in rivers but perhaps entering slightly saline waters near the mouth of Amazon (but this part of its range is not well documented). Compared with the `flying' characoid fishes (e.g. Thoracocharax), the vertically aligned scute arms in Pristigaster and the rather small pectoral muscles show that flight by vibration of the pectoral fins is almost certainly impossible. This species having been caught along with Thoracocharax raises the question of mimicry.

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Whitehead, P.J.P., 1985. FAO Species Catalogue. Vol. 7. Clupeoid fishes of the world (suborder Clupeoidei). An annotated and illustrated catalogue of the herrings, sardines, pilchards, sprats, shads, anchovies and wolf-herrings. FAO Fish. Synop. 125(7/1):1-303. Rome: FAO. (Ref. 188)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 06 March 2017

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: of no interest
FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

More information

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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.7500   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01585 (0.00612 - 0.04107), b=3.05 (2.82 - 3.28), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this (Sub)family-body shape (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  3.4   ±0.5 se; based on size and trophs of closest relatives
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Low vulnerability (10 of 100).