Kelee shad (Hilsa kelee)

Scientific name: Hilsa kelee Cuvier, 1829

Kelee shad (Hilsa kelee)

The Kelee shad (Hilsa kelee) is a freshwater fish of the family Clupeidae.

Biology

Found in coastal waters, enters estuaries and able to tolerate quite low salinities (7 ppt). Feeds chiefly on phytoplankton (mainly diatoms, also dinoflagellates), but also copepods, molluscan and crustacean larvae, prawns, amphipods and polychaetes. Spawns (at least in Godavari estuary) around February. Marketed fresh, dried, dried-salted and boiled. Made into fish balls. Found in the basin-wide mainstream of the lower Mekong.

Source: FishBase, licensed CC BY-NC 4.0.

Species facts

Scientific name
Hilsa kelee
Family
Clupeidae (Herrings, shads and sardines)
Order
Clupeiformes (Herrings)
Class
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned fishes)
Maximum length
35.0
Common length
16.5
Depth range
10 m (33 ft)
Environment
Marine; freshwater; brackish; pelagic-neritic; anadromous; depth range 10 - ? m
Climate
Tropical
Distribution
Indo-West Pacific: probably all coasts of Indian Ocean, from Gulf of Oman and Gulf of Aden south to Transkei, South Africa and Madagascar, across the Bay of Bengal, Gulf of Thailand, Java Sea and north to Hong Kong and east to Papua New Guinea and possibly further.
Conservation status (IUCN)
Not Evaluated
Threat to humans
Harmless
Uses
Fisheries: highly commercial; bait: occasionally
Resilience
High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (K=1.1)

Sources

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

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