Species: Pellona harroweri, American Coastal Pellona, American Coastal Pellona Herring

Pellona harroweri (Fowler, 1917)

American Coastal Pellona, American Coastal Pellona Herring

Deep bodied (body depth 35-42% of SL), compressed; eye large; mouth oblique, opens upward, lower jaw strongly projecting; mouth reaches to under center of eye; top jaw with 3 separate toothed bones; jaw teeth minute, usually with a distinct toothless gap in center of top jaw; gill rakers short, thick, 23-25 lower rakers; dorsal fin about midbody; pelvics small, 6 rays, base distinctly before dorsal fin base, without any distinct axillary scale; anal fin long based, 36-42 rays, its origin under rear of base of dorsal fin; a forked tail fin; scales large, easily shed; a keel of sharp scutes (hard, spiny scales) along belly, 17-20 scutes before pelvics, 5-7 after.

Blue-grey above, silvery below; dorsal and anal fins yellow; dorsal fin tip and rear edge of tail fin dark.

Reaches 22.5 cm.

Over muddy bottoms in coastal areas and estuaries.

Depth range: 0-35 m.

Honduras to southern Brazil.