Common Name: silversides 



Scientific Name: Menidia species 



Other Common Names: inland silverside, tidewater 



silverside, Mississippi silverside, waxen silverside, 



glassy silverside, glassminnow, hardhead (Bigelow 



and Schroeder 1953, Massman 1954, Kilby 1955, 



Springer and Woodburn 1960, Hubbs et al. 1971, 



Middaugh et al. 1985, Robins et al. 1991). 



Classification (Robins et al. 1991) 



Phylum: Chordata 



Class: Osteichthyes 



Order: Perciformes 



Family: Atherinidae 



Two species of Men/'d/'acommonly occur in estuaries of 

 the Gulf of Mexico: the inland silverside (M. beryllina), 

 and the tidewater silverside (Menidia peninsulae) 

 (Johnson 1975, Chernoff et al. 1981, Robins et al. 

 1 991 ). These were not recognized as distinct species 

 until fairly recently (Robins et al. 1980, Chernoff et al. 

 1981). The formerly recognized inland freshwater 

 species, M. audens, is now considered synonymous 

 with M. beryllina (Lee et al. 1 980, Chernoff et al. 1 981 ). 

 Other recognized species in the Gulf of Mexico region 

 include the key silverside {M. conchorum) (Duggins et 

 al. 1 977, Robins et al. 1 991 ), and Texas silverside (/W. 

 clarkhubbsi) (Echelle and Mosier 1982, Robins et al. 

 1 991 ). The Atlantic silverside (M. menidia) is found in 

 estuaries of the U.S. east coast (Bigelow and Schroeder 

 1 953, Nelson et al. 1 991 ), but not in the Gulf of Mexico 

 (Leeetal. 1980). 



Menidia beryllina and M. peninsulae can be distin- 

 guished by the morphology of the rearward extension 

 of the swim bladder (Echelle and Echelle 1997). This 

 structure is long and transparent in M. beryllina, short 



and opaque in M. peninsulae and intermediate in M. 

 clarkhubbsi and hybrid individuals. These species can 

 also be distinguished by the distance between the 

 dorsal and anal fins relative to standard length (Chernoff 

 et al. 1 981 , Middaugh and Hemmer 1 987a). 



The Menidia species were considered together in 

 Volume /of this series (Nelson et al. 1 992) because of 

 their ecological similarities, and because many pub- 

 lished studies do not completely distinguish between 

 them. In this life history summary, information on 

 individual species is noted where their identity is known. 

 Where species identity is uncertain, information is 

 attributed to "Menidia", "Menidia species" or "silver- 

 sides". 



Value 



Commercial : Silversides have little commercial value 

 otherthan providing forage for commercially important 

 fish, but they are reported to be delicious when properly 

 cooked (Kendall 1902, Garwood 1968, Benson 1982, 

 Ross pers. comm.). 



Recreational : Silversides are important forage for game 

 fish, and are also sometimes used as bait (Simmons 

 1957, Garwood 1968, Benson 1982, Hubbs 1982). 



Indicator : Eggs and larvae have been used to study the 

 toxic effects of chlorine as a biocide (Morgan and 

 Prince 1 977). Silversides are considered good indica- 

 tors for oil pollution (Solangi 1 980) and have been used 

 as bioassay organisms by the U.S. Environmental 

 Protection Agency (EPA) (Poole 1978). 



Ecological : Silversides are among the most abundant 

 nearshore surface fishes. They are secondary con- 



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