Family ATHERINIDAE 



THE SILVERSIDE FAMILY 



The silverside family includes many species found in both salt and 

 fresh water in various parts of North America and other continents. 

 Only one genus and one species occur in Minnesota and neighboring 

 states. 



GENUS Labidesthes Cope 



This genus contains but one species, the brook silverside, Labidesthes 

 sicculus (Cope) . 



NORTHERN BROOK SILVERSIDE (Skipjack) 

 Labidesthes sicculus sicculus (Cope) ■ 



The northern brook silverside (Figure 50) is a slender, beautiful little 

 fish of a transparent greenish color. It has a prominent and brilliant 

 silver lateral band with a dark lateral streak above it. The back is 

 dotted with black. The body is elongate and compressed; the head is 

 long and flattened above; the snout is slender and is considerably drawn 

 out and longer than the eye. The premaxillaries are very protractile; the 

 edge of the upper jaw is concave. The scales are cycloid. The head is 

 contained 4.5 times in the length and the depth 6 times. The eye is very 

 prominent. The anterior dorsal fin has 4 very small, weak spines; the 



Figure 50. Northern brook silverside, Labidesthes sicculus sicculus, 

 2 1/2 inches long. 



posterior dorsal fin has 1 spine and 11 soft rays. The anal fin has 1 

 spine and 23 soft rays. No lateral line is present. There are 75 scales in 

 a Hne from the opercle to the base of the caudal. The caudal fin is 

 forked. This fish seldom, if ever, exceeds 4 inches in length. 



The brook silverside is distributed from Minnesota eastward through 

 southern Ontario and southward to the Gulf. It is fairly widely dis- 



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