Fishes of the JVestern North Atlantic 241 



examples much longer than snout and eye, proportionately shorter in small specimens, 

 its posterior angle about 35°. Gill rakers at angle fully half of length of eye. 



Dorsal fin with the longest rays extending nearly or quite to tip of last ray if 

 deflexed, its origin much nearer to base of caudal than to eye. Anal base 3.8—4.0 in 

 SL, its origin slightly in advance of middle of dorsal base. Pelvic failing to reach 

 halfway to anal in adults, extending farther back in young, inserted nearer to pectoral 

 base than to anal origin. Pectoral scarcely reaching pelvic in adults, rather longer 

 in young, 1.25— 1.5 in head. Axillary scale of pectoral about 67"/o of length of fin, 

 2.3—2.7 in head. 



Color. Old specimens, in alcohol, grayish above. Side of head and lower 66 "/o of 

 body bright silvery. Small specimens with a broad silvery lateral band and a dark verte- 

 bral band. The original description mentioned "an oblong blackish patch on lower half of 

 the end of the tail," but such a blackish patch is not present on the specimens studied. 



Size. A total length of at least 185 mm (7.4 in.) is attained. 



Development. The juvenile, as in other herring and herring-like fishes, is more 

 slender but rounder than the adult. All juveniles show externally the convoluted 

 intestine, which apparently has not become fully covered by the abdominal wall. The 

 snout is very short and blunt, and in the smallest specimen it scarcely projects beyond 

 the tip of the mandible. The blunt maxillary extends little beyond the posterior margin 

 of the eye. Both anal fin and vent move forward with age; the anal fin has its origin 

 under the posterior rays of the dorsal in a 21 -mm specimen, about under the middle 

 of the dorsal base in a 31 -mm fish, and in advance of the middle of the dorsal, as in 

 the adult, in a 35-mm fish. 



The smallest fish has a dark line on the isthmus and chest, dark dots along the 

 base of the anal, and a single continuous dark median ventral line on the caudal peduncle. 

 The dark line on the isthmus and chest disappears at a length of about 30 mm, but the 

 markings at the base of the anal and on the peduncle remain until a length of at least 

 52 mm is attained. The dark vertebral band, described for larger fish, first becomes 

 partially evident at a length of about 32 mm. There is no indication of a silvery lateral 

 band up to a length of 52 mm. 



Range and Habitat. This species is known from Rio Apure (a tributary of the 

 Orinoco) at San Fernando de Apure, Venezuela; in Brazil it has been taken from 

 the Para River, from Teffe on the Solimoes River, and from the Jutahy River, the last 

 two streams being tributaries of the Amazon. 



Synonyms and References: 



Engraulis batesii Giinther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., 7, 1868: 399 (orig. descr.; type local. Pari R., Brazil; 

 types in BMNH). 



Lycengrautis batesii Jordan and Scale, Bull. Mus. comp. Zool. Harv., 6^, 1926: 385 (descr. not based on batesii 

 throughout; 21 gill rakers on lower limb given whereas batesii has only 12-15; ^^° Grande, Teffe, 

 Jutahy [River] and Doce R., all in Brazil; Rio Grande specimen is olidus, the Doce R. specimen schroeder't); 

 von Ihering, Rev. Industr. Anim., Anno i (3), 1930: 233 (locals., diagn.) ; Hildebrand, Bull. Bingham 

 oceanogr. Coll., 5 (2), 1943: 148, fig. 67 (descr., range) ; Schultz, Proc. U. S. nat. Mus., gg, 1949: 51 

 (ref.). 



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