Relevant synonyms None. Misidentification None. Meristic formula D, 13-17; A, 8-11; P, 10-12; V,  ; LL, 78-90  photo : Y. Ozvarol

SHORT DESCRIPTION Body elongated and slightly compressed in its lower part. Small pointed mouth. No teeth but many gill rakers. Relatively large eye. Four branchiostegal rays. A single triangular dorsal fin at body's midpoint. Anal fin located well behind dorsal fin. Caudal fin deeply forked. Pectoral fin low on the body. Pelvic below dorsal fin. color : back bluish-grey becoming white on the belly. size : common 20-120 cm (max. 180 cm). DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS Clupeidae: scutes on the belly (in part); no lateral line; 6-7 branchiostegal rays. Mugilidae, Carangidae, Sphyraenidae and Atherinidae: two dorsal fins. BIOLOGY / ECOLOGY Live in small or large schools. Juveniles feed on diatoms and small benthic invertebrates, mainly copepods. Adult feed chiefly on planktonic crustaceans and small fishes. Eggs and larvae pelagic for 2-3 weeks and then drift to coastal lagoons and mangrove swamps. habitat : inshore-pelagic.

1st MEDITERRANEAN RECORD 2011, Turkey. DISTRIBUTION Worldwide : wide Indo-Pacific including eastern Pacific. Mediterranean : a single record from Gazipaşa, Turkey. ESTABLISHMENT SUCCESS Very rare. speculated reasons for success : MODE OF INTRODUCTION Probably via the Suez Canal. IMPORTANCE TO HUMANS None.

KEY REFERENCES Özvarol Y. and Gökoğlu M., 2012. First record of the Indo-Pacific milkfish Chanos chanos (Forskål, 1775) (sic.) in the Turkish Mediterranean Sea. Zoology in the Middle East, 55: 135-136. FEEDBACK / COMMENTS TO AUTHORS

Last update of the species sheet: November 2013 ©ciesm 2002