THE ANCHOVIES 



Family XIV, Engraulida 



BODY elongate, more or less compressed, covered with thin, 

 cycloid scales; head compressed; mouth very large, more or less 

 oblique, usually overlapped by the compressed, pointed, pig-like 

 snout; gape very wide, the maxillary long and slender, reaching 

 far beyond the eye, in some species even beyond the head; pre- 

 maxillaries not protractile, very small and firmly joined to the 

 maxillaries; teeth usually small, sometimes obsolete, usually fine 

 and even, in a single row in each jaw; canines sometimes present; 

 eye large, well forward, no adipose eyelid; opercles thin and mem- 

 branaceous; gillrakers long and slender; gill-membranes separate 

 or joined, free from the isthmus; pseudobranchiae present; no 

 lateral line; belly rounded or weakly serrate. 



Small, carnivorous shore fishes, usually swimming in large 

 schools on sandy shores; abundant in all warm seas, occasionally 

 entering rivers. 



The family contains about 9 genera and 80 species, and is 

 closely related to the Clupeidce. 



a. Teeth in jaws all small, if present; no canines. 



b. Insertion of dorsal before that of anal. 



c. Gill-membranes nearly or quite separate, free from the isthmus. 



d. Vertebrae about 41 in number; bones firm; species chiefly 



tropical ; Anchovia, 1 1 2 



dd. Vertebrae about 45; bones rather feeble; species of temperate 

 regions ; Engraulis, \ 1 5 



cc. Gill-membranes broadly united, free from the isthmus; 



Cetengraulis, \ 1 5 



bb. Insertion of dorsal behind front of the very long anal ; gill- 

 membranes separate ; c Pterengraulis, 1 1 5 



aa. Teeth in jaws unequal, some of them enlarged and canine- 

 like ; Lycengraulis, 1 1 5 



GENUS ANCHOVIA JORDAN & El/ERMANN 

 The Silvery Anchovies 



Body oblong, compressed, covered with rather large, thin, 

 deciduous scales; belly rounded or weakly compressed; snout coni- 



