Species: Menidia conchorum, Key Silverside

Menidia conchorum Hildebrand & Ginsburg, 1927

Key Silverside

Body elongate, compressed; eye large; snout shorter than eye, without pits, pores or tubes on top; top jaw extendible, premaxilla with rear end greatly expanded, without expanded bony process above its center; teeth well developed, in bands; first dorsal IV-VI, origin over middle of pelvic fin, its entire base over the pelvic fin; horizontal distance between 1st dorsal and anal >7% of SL; anal fin I, 12-15, edge of fin straight; pelvics inserted nearer pectoral base than anal origin; scales without scalloped edges; 18 scale rows from insertion of pelvic to origin of dorsal fin; lateral line pits begin on 6th scale behind pectoral fin base; lateral scales 28-34.

Pale to slightly translucent, upper back may be greenish; lateral stripe prominent, with some black along top edge; back faintly stippled in black.

Reaches 6.1 cm.

Lives in hypersaline ponds.

Depth range: 0-5 m.

The Florida Keys.

Note: an ecological form of H. pPeninsulae.