Genus: Atherina, Reef Silverside, Silversides

ATHERINA

SILVERSIDES

Eye large (~ twice snout length); head relatively deep, and narrow (width 55% of head length) top profile straight; bony ridge on each side of snout; mouth oblique, top jaw not extendable, reaches back past front edge of eye, front (premaxilla) bone with rear end narrow and pointed (not expanded), and with a short bony process above its center; rear of lower jaw inside mouth with large vertical extension; teeth small, simple, none on tongue; no forward projecting teeth on front of lower lip; gill rakers long, slender, 24 or more; V-VII spines on first dorsal fin, its origin well before anal origin, near middle of SL; anus under base of 1st dorsal fin; pelvics inserted nearer pectoral base than anus; large scales under pectoral base and on operculum; breast and throat scaled; bases of dorsal and anal fins not scaled.

A tropical genus with 9 species, found in the Indo-central Pacific and tropical west Atlantic; one W Atlantic species in our region.