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Fish

Sand smelt

Atherina presbyter

Atherina presbyter Cuvier, 1829 · Atherinidae WoRMS 272030

Reference photos

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Slender silvery fish with a brilliant stripe from head to tail and a translucent greenish back; schools near the surface in coastal water and estuaries.

Depth

1-10 m, in marine and brackish water, near the surface in the littoral zone

Size

Up to 20 cm, usually 12 to 16 cm

Habitat

Pelagic in littoral and coastal water, entering estuaries, coastal lagoons and low-salinity water

Behaviour

Schools near the surface and makes seasonal migrations along Atlantic coasts; spawns in spring and summer

Diet

I eat

  • Zooplankton, including small planktonic crustaceans
  • Fish eggs and larvae

Where you'd find it

Mostly seen in the English Channel and the Irish Sea, and only here and there elsewhere.

ChannelCeltic SeaNorth SeaIrish SeaW of IrelandW of Scotland
Often seenNow and thenWhere PEBL filmsBased on marine survey records (OBIS). Blank seas can mean nobody has looked there, not that the animal is absent.

Sources

Open-access references behind this page. Every statement on this page was read out of one of them; anything that could not be traced to a source was taken off the page rather than left standing. Each link was checked on the date shown, and confirmed then to be about this species.

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