Gilchrist's round herring (Gilchristella aestuaria)

Scientific name: Gilchristella aestuaria Gilchrist, 1913

Gilchrist's round herring (Gilchristella aestuaria)

The Gilchrist's round herring (Gilchristella aestuaria) is a freshwater fish of the family Clupeidae.

Biology

Occurs primarily in estuaries and lagoons, but also found in lakes and rivers. Entire life cycle is completed in the estuary. Can tolerate salinities under 4 ppt and of up to 52.6 ppt. Breeds throughout the year with a peak in spring and early summer. Maturity may be attained within the first or second year and an age of up to 5 or 6 years is recorded. Feeds chiefly on zooplankton by filtering or selecting individual organisms from the water column. Utilized fresh or dried and salted.

Source: FishBase, licensed CC BY-NC 4.0.

Species facts

Scientific name
Gilchristella aestuaria
Family
Clupeidae (Herrings, shads and sardines)
Order
Clupeiformes (Herrings)
Class
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned fishes)
Maximum length
10.0
Environment
Marine; freshwater; brackish; pelagic-neritic; amphidromous
Climate
Subtropical
Distribution
Africa: Lake Piti, Mozambique along southern African coast to Saldanha Bay, possibly mouth of Orange River (but perhaps confused by presence of a second undescribed species). Reported occurrence in India needs validation. Reports of the occurrence in Madagascan waters are in error.
Conservation status (IUCN)
Least Concern (LC)
Threat to humans
Harmless
Uses
Fisheries: subsistence fisheries; bait: usually
Resilience
High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (tm=0.5)

Sources

Taxonomy, distribution and biology data: FishBase (Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds.), licensed CC BY-NC 4.0.

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