Amazon hatchet herring
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Amazon hatchet herring ( Pellona castelnaeana ) |
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| Valenciennes , 1847 |
The Amazon hatchet-bellied herring ( Pellona castelnaeana ) belongs to the family of hatchet-bellied herring , a few species of which are found in the fresh water of tropical South America .
description
The Amazon hatchet bellied herring is usually up to 80 centimeters long and 7 kilograms in weight. The largest hatchet-bellied herring caught on a line weighed 7.1 kilograms and came from the Río Caura in Venezuela . Professional fishermen have caught specimens up to 9 kilograms in this river.
The Amazon hatchet-bellied herring has the following fin formula : dorsal 0, anal 34–38. Its lower jaw is protruding, that is, it has an overhead mouth. The fish often have a metallic blue on their backs that are iridescent into the colors red and green , strongly refractive, while the head and underside are dominated by yellowish tones.
In Brazil it is called Apapá or Sardinha Branca, in Spanish-speaking countries Sardinata. In English it is also called Amazon Pellona .
distribution
Amazon hatchet herring occurs in the river system of the Amazon from Iquitos in Peru , the Ambyiacu , a small tributary of the Amazon in Ecuador , via Manaus in Brazil to the brackish estuary of the Amazon. It can also be found at Lake Amuku in Guyana , where the connection between Essequibo and the Trombetas, a tributary of the Amazon, is made. He also lives in the tropical lowland rivers of Bolivia , Colombia and Venezuela . The species is related to the yellowfin river hatchet-bellied herring ( Pellona flavipinnis ), which is also found in the catchment area of the Río de la Plata .
Way of life
The biology of Pellona castelnaeana was described in more detail based on studies in the Bolivian Río Mamoré : Amazon hatchet-bellied herring live almost exclusively in the flowing white water of the gallery forests , with oxygen becoming the most important limiting factor. The fish reach a maximum age of seven years and spawn when the water is low in the months of August to October in flowing water areas. While juvenile fish feed on small animals, insects, and crabs, adult specimens eat almost exclusively fish. Amazon hatchet-bellied herrings are surface predators that hunt prey in small groups and schools in rivers, lakes, and floodplains. They develop their greatest activity shortly before dusk, where they can be easily localized by the clapping of the prey fish they hunted, mainly smaller tetra species .
use
As a sport fish of local importance, as food fish only of little value because of its less tasty meat.
literature
- PJP Whitehead: FAO species catalog. Vol. 7. Clupeoid fishes of the world (suborder Clupeioidei). An annotated and illustrated catalog of the herrings, sardines, pilchards, sprats, shads, anchovies and wolf-herrings. Part 1 - Chirocentridae, Clupeidae and Pristigasteridae. FAO Fish, Synop. 125 (7/1), pp. 1-303, 1985, p. 279
- Michael Goulding: The Fishes and the Forest, Explorations in Amazonian Ecology . University of California Press, 1981 ISBN 978-0520041318 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Amazon hatchet herring on Fishbase.org (English)
- ^ Fishing World Records
- ^ Edward Drinker Cope : On the Fishes of the Ambyiacu River. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 23, 3, pp. 250-294, 1871
- ↑ Bernard Le Guennec & Gérard Loubens: Biologie de Pellona castelnaeana (Teleostei: Pristigasteridae) dans le bassin du Mamoré (Amazonia bolivienne). Ichthyol. Explor. Freshwaters, 15, 4, pp. 369-383, Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, Munich, December 2004 PDF ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (French)
Web links
- http://www.jjphoto.dk/fish_archive/warm_freshwater/pellona_castelnaeana.htm (link not available) Pictures