Description

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Dorsal spines (total): 5 - 7; Dorsal soft rays (total): 8 - 10; Anal spines: 1; Anal soft rays: 11 - 15; Vertebrae: 40 - 44. This species is distinguished by the following set of characters: lateral process of premaxilla very low and wide; upper margin of dentary almost flat distally, no distinct tubercle at the posterior end; posterior tip of the upper jaw reaching to or exceeding a vertical through anterior margin of the pupil, and not reaching to a vertical through center of the pupil; teeth on endopterygoids large, forming distinct ridges; anus located around posterior tip of the pelvic fin; lower gill rakers 20-23; midlateral scale count 39-43; lower margin of midlateral band reaching to or just below ventral end of the midlateral (third) scale row at the level of the anal fin origin (Ref. 58474).

Common Names

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Bizhreh Kbyreh , Arabic , Lebanon

Namousa , Arabic , Libya

Owzaf , Arabic , Libya

Red Sea hardyhead silverside , English , Japan

Gümüş balığı , Turkish , Turkey

Taxonomic Hierarchy

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Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Teleostei

Order: Atheriniformes

Family: Atherinidae

Genus: Atherinomorus

Species: Atherinomorus forskalii (Rüppell, 1838)

Climate Zone

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Tropical

Location

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Western Indian Ocean: endemic to the Red Sea and has invaded the eastern Mediterranean through the Suez Canal.

Biology

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Feeds on zooplankton, small bottom-living invertebrates (Ref. 5980).

Habitat

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associated