Herring tetras
| Herring tetras | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the subfamily | ||||||||||||
| Agoniatinae | ||||||||||||
| Bleeker , 1859 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Agoniates | ||||||||||||
| JP Müller & Troschel , 1845 |
The herring tetras ( Agoniates ( Gr .: "Agōniatēs" = competitor)), called Maiaca in Brazil , are small, pelagic predatory fish that occur in the entire Amazon basin , in the Rio Tocantins and in Guayana .
features
Herring tetras are 14.8 cm to 21.5 cm and resemble in their external appearance the freshwater herring found in the same habitat. They have an elongated body and are silvery in color. They show some unusual features for tetra, including a well-developed coracoid bone , maxillaries that are much longer than the reduced premaxillary , an alternating arrangement of strong, pointed, hook-shaped canines and conical teeth in the lower jaw, and two rows of three-pointed or conical teeth on the premaxillary . The scales are relatively large and taller than they are long. The gill trap rays are finely toothed. The sideline is complete and curves sharply on the first five scales. The dorsal fin is small and sits behind the middle of the body, the anal fin is supported by 23 to 34 branched soft rays.
- Branchiostegal blasting : 5
- Vertebra: 41-43.
Way of life
Herring tetra live in open water in mixed schools with hatchet-bellied herrings and are probably fish-eaters.
Systematics
The herring tetras were placed in the family of the real tetras (Characidae) for a long time , then in 2011 Oliveira and colleagues assigned them to the newly established family Triportheidae .
species
The genus consists of 2 species.
- Agoniates anchovia C. H. Eigenmann , 1914
- Agoniates halecinus Müller & Troschel, 1845 ( type species )
literature
- Roberto E. Reis, Sven O. Kullander, Carl J. Ferraris: Check List of the Freshwater Fishes of South and Central America. CLOFFSCA. 2003: i-xi + 1-729.
- Zarske & Géry 1997: Rediscovery of Agoniates halecinus Müller & Troschel, 1845, with a supplementary description of Agoniates anchovia Eigenmann, 1914, and a definition of the genus (Teleostei: Ostariophysi: Characiformes: Characidae), PDF
Individual evidence
- ↑ Claudio Oliveira et al .: Phylogenetic relationships within the speciose family Characidae (Teleostei: Ostariophysi: Characiformes) based on multilocus analysis and extensive ingroup sampling. BMC Evolutionary Biology 2011, 11: 275 doi : 10.1186 / 1471-2148-11-275
Web links
- Agoniates on Fishbase.org (English)