The Black Sea sprat or Pontic sprat,[1] Clupeonella cultriventris, is a small fish of the herring family, Clupeidae. It is found in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov and rivers of its basins: Danube, Dnister, Dnipro (Ukraine), Southern Bug, Don, Kuban. It has white-grey flesh and silver-grey scales. A typical size is 10 cm (maximum 15 cm).[3] The life span is up to 5 years.[3] The peak of its spawning is in April and it can be found in enormous shoals in sea-shores, filled all-round coastal shallows, moving quickly back into the sea at a depth of 6–30 metres. Used for food; it has around 12% fat in flesh.

Black Sea sprat
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Clupeiformes
Family: Ehiravidae
Genus: Clupeonella
Species:
C. cultriventris
Binomial name
Clupeonella cultriventris
(Nordmann, 1840)[2]
Synonyms
  • Clupea cultriventris Nordmann, 1840
  • Clupea cultriventris tscharchalensis (non Borodin, 1896)
  • Clupea delicatula Nordmann, 1840
  • Clupeonella cultiventris (Nordmann, 1840)
  • Clupeonella delicatula (Nordmann, 1840)
  • Clupeonella delicatula azovi Vladimirov, 1950
  • Clupeonella delicatula caspia (non Svetovidov, 1941)
  • Clupeonella delicatula cultriventris (Nordmann, 1840)

It is one of the most abundant fishes in the Sea of Azov. It is important prey for other fishes, particularly the pikeperch.[4]

The Caspian tyulka Clupeonella caspia has been long considered a subspecies of C. cultriventris, C. cultriventris caspia, and a common name "Black and Caspian Sea sprat" was then applied to the whole.[5][3]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b Freyhof, J. & Kottelat, M. (2008). "Clupeonella cultriventris". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2008: e.T4987A11107179. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2008.RLTS.T4987A11107179.en. Retrieved 25 March 2024.
  2. ^ Nordmann, A. von. 1840. Observations sur la fauna pontique. In: A. de Démidoff. Voyage dans la Russie méridionale et la Crimée. Vol. III: 353–635. Paris.
  3. ^ a b c Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2014). "Clupeonella cultriventris" in FishBase. August 2014 version.
  4. ^ Рыбы вод Украины Тюлька черноморско-азовская (Clupeonella cultriventris (Nordmann, 1840)) fish.kiev.ua
  5. ^ C. cultriventris (Nordmann,1840) - черноморско-каспийская тюлька Archived 12 September 2014 at the Wayback Machine Позвоночные животные России. sevin.ru

External links edit