Black Sea sprat
| Black Sea sprat | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia | 
| Phylum: | Chordata | 
| Class: | Actinopterygii | 
| Order: | Clupeiformes | 
| Family: | Clupeidae | 
| Subfamily: | Clupeinae | 
| Genus: | Clupeonella | 
| Species: | C. cultriventris | 
| Binomial name | |
|  Clupeonella cultriventris (Nordmann, 1840)[1]  | |
| Synonyms | |
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The Black Sea sprat, Clupeonella cultriventris, is a small fish of the herring family, Clupeidae. It is found in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov and rivers of its basins: Danube, Dniester, Dnieper, Southern Bug, Don, Kuban. It has white-grey flesh and silver-grey scales. A typical size is 10 cm (maximum 15 cm)[2] The life span is of up to 5 years.[2] The peak of its spawning is in April and it can be found in enormous shoals in sea-shores, filled all-round coastal shallows, moving quickly back in the sea at a depth of 6–30 metres. Used for food; it has around 12% fat in flesh.
It is one of the most abundant fishes in the Sea of Azov. It is important prey for other fishes, particularly the pikeperch.[3]
The Caspian tyulka Clupeonella caspia has been long considered a subspecies of C. cultriventris, C. cultriventris caspia, and a common name "Black and Caspian Sea sprat" was then applied to the whole.[4][2]
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References
- ↑ Nordmann, A. von. 1840. Observations sur la fauna pontique. In: A. de Démidoff. Voyage dans la Russie méridionale et la Crimée. Vol. III: 353-635. Paris.
 - 1 2 3 Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2014). "Clupeonella cultriventris" in FishBase. August 2014 version.
 - ↑ Рыбы вод Украины Тюлька черноморско-азовская (Clupeonella cultriventris (Nordmann, 1840)) fish.kiev.ua
 - ↑ C. cultriventris (Nordmann,1840) - черноморско-каспийская тюлька Позвоночные животные России. sevin.ru
 
- Freyhof, J. & Kottelat, M. (2008) Clupeonella cultriventris The IUCN Red List
 

