186 



UNDERWATER GUIDE TO MARINE LIFE 



Fig. 91. Menhaden. 



Fig. 92. Striped anchovy Qahove left) and green fry (below right). 



sea birds and many fishes. In response to the great stress put on them bv many 

 animals including man, menhaden are very prolific and deposit up to 150,000 

 floating, pelagic eggs. 



TRUE ANCHOVIES: Family Engraulidae 



The mouth is exceedingly large and under a pronounced snout. There is 

 almost always a wide lateral silvery stripe. The size is under 8 inches. The species 

 are very plentiful in all warm seas. Like the true herrings, these are schooling 

 plankton feeders of both open seas and waters near shore. They form a basic 

 food for many fishes. 



STRIPED anchovy: Auchoviella epsepus 



Size: Up to 6 inches. Usually smaller. 



Distribution: Cape Cod to Uruguay. Most abundant in Florida and the 

 West Indies. 



Identification: There are many species of anchovies, all very similar. No 

 attempt is made here to separate them. 



Habits: This is one of the densely schooling, little silver-sided fishes which 

 stream through tropical and temperate waters in endless lines. When so mov- 

 ing, it is very difficult to tell them apart from similar but quite distinct little 

 fishes, such as silversides (Antherinidae) and green fry, jenkinsia, which they 

 superificially resemble and with which they frequently school. It is a unique 

 experience to swim into a cloud of these fishes, all of which seem to be pur- 

 posefully running off for some unknown appointment. They are common in 



