Fishes of the Western Nortfi Atlantic 



185 



Anchoa choerostoma (Goode) 1874 

 Figure 35 



Study Material. Many specimens in nine collections from Bermuda. 

 'Description. Proportional dimensions in per cent of standard length, and counts, 

 based on at least 22 specimens, 55-75 mm TL. 



Body: depth 18.2-20.8. 

 Head: length 27.8-30.2. 

 Snout: length 5.1-6.4. 

 Eye: diameter 6.5—8.4. 

 Postorbital: distance I3.3— 15-9- 

 Maxillary: length 21.2-24.3. 

 Mandible: length 19.2—22. 



Anal fin: length of base 20—22.6. 

 Pectoral fin: length 1 5.6-1 8.5. 



Scales: ca. 38—40. 

 Gill rakers: 17—20 + 23-26. 

 Fin rays: dorsal 13—15; anal 22—24 

 (rarely 21 or 25); pectoral 12-14. 

 Vertebrae: 41 or 42 (2 specimens). 



Figure 35. Anchoa choerostoma, 68 mm TL, from Bermuda, USNM 21976. Drawn by Louella E. Cable. 



Body strongly compressed, moderately deep, its depth 4.8—5.8 in SL. Head 

 3.3—3.6 in SL, its depth equal to postorbital and about half of eye. Snout short, 

 projecting rather more than half of its length beyond mandible, 4.7-5.8 in head. Eye 

 3.3-4.2. Postorbital i. 85-2.1 in head. Maxillary reaching nearly to gill opening, 

 not sharply pointed, its upper margin rounded, 1.2— 1.3 in head. Mandible 1.3— 1.5 

 in head. Cheek length equal to eye and fully 75% of snout, its posterior angle 

 about 30°. 



Dorsal fin rather high anteriorly, its longest rays reaching to or beyond tip of 

 last ray if deflexed, its origin about equidistant between base of caudal and anterior 

 margin of eye. Anal with origin somewhere under posterior half of dorsal, but well in 

 advance of the base of last ray, its base 4.4—5.0 in SL. Pelvic failing to reach anal by 

 nearly an eye's diameter, inserted a little nearer to origin of anal than to pectoral base. 

 Pectoral moderately long, reaching nearly or quite to pelvic, 1.5— 1.9 in head. 



