Atherina is a genus of fish of silverside family Atherinidae, found in the temperate and tropic zones. Up to 15 cm long, they are widespread in the Mediterranean, Black Sea, Sea of Azov in lagoons and estuaries. It comes to the low stream of the Dnieper, Southern Bug, Dniester and Danube Rivers.
| Atherina Temporal range:
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|---|---|
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| Atherina hepsetus | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Atheriniformes |
| Family: | Atherinidae |
| Subfamily: | Atherininae |
| Genus: | Atherina Linnaeus, 1758 |
| Type species | |
| Atherina hepsetus Linnaeus, 1758[1]
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Species edit
There are currently five recognized species in this genus:[2]
- Atherina boyeri A. Risso, 1810 (Big-scale sand smelt)
- Atherina breviceps Valenciennes, 1835 (Cape silverside)
- Atherina hepsetus Linnaeus, 1758 (Mediterranean sand smelt)
- Atherina lopeziana Rossignol & Blache, 1961
- Atherina presbyter G. Cuvier, 1829 (Sand smelt)
Commercial importance edit
Species of Atherina are objects in the traditional Italian, Catalan, Occitan, south-Ukrainian, Turkish, and Greek cuisine in fried form. The fish are lightly powdered with wheat flour before being dropped in hot olive oil. In Ukraine and Greece, it is commercially important species.[3]
Fossil record edit
These fishes lived from the Eocene age to Miocene (from 55.8 to 11.608 million years ago).[clarification needed] Fossils have been found in Kazakhstan and in Italy.[4]
References edit
- ^ Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Atherina". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
- ^ Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2019). Species of Atherina in FishBase. April 2019 version.>
- ^ Kottelat, M. & Freyhof, J. (2007): Handbook of European freshwater fishes. Publications Kottelat, Cornol, Switzerland. 646 p.
- ^ Paleobiology Database
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