È un pesce affusolato con testa grande con muso allungato sulla cui parte inferiore si apre la bocca, piuttosto piccola. La pinna caudale è grande e profondamente forcuta, il peduncolo caudale è abbastanza sottile. Le pinne non presentano raggi spinosi ma solo molli: la pinna dorsale e la pinna anale sono brevi, l'anale è posta molto indietro, a ridosso del peduncolo caudale. Le pinne ventrali sono anch'esse inserite molto posteriormente, sotto la pinna dorsale; le pinne pettorali sono inserite in basso, in prossimità del profilo ventrale.
Il colore è argenteo con linee scure longitudinali simili a quelle del comune cefalo.
Popola le acque costiere molto basse e vicine alla costa su fondi sabbiosi o fangosi, soprattutto in zone con debole idrodinamismo come golfi e baie. Essendo eurialino frequenta anche gli estuari.
Tassonomia
Sinonimi
Albula conorynchusBloch & Schneider, 1801
Albula lacustrisWalbaum, 1792
Albula parraeValenciennes, 1847
Albula plumieriBloch & Schneider, 1801
Albula rostrataGray, 1854
Amia immaculataBloch & Schneider, 1801
Butyrinus bananusLacepède, 1803
Clupea brasiliensisBloch & Schneider, 1801
Clupea macrocephalaLacepède, 1803
Engraulis bahiensisSpix, 1829
Engraulis sericusSpix, 1829
Esox vulpesLinnaeus, 1758
Esunculus costaiKaup, 1856
Glossodus forskaliiSpix & Agassiz, 1829
Pesca
Le carni sono liscose e scadenti per cui non ha alcun interesse economico o alimentare. Ciò nonostante è insidiato massicciamente da pescatori sportivi che lo insidiano principalmente a mosca a causa della strenua difesa che oppone alla cattura.
^(G.U. delle Comunità Europee L 222/29 del 17.8.2001 - Regolamento (CE) N. 1638/2001 della Commissione del 24 luglio 2001) e (G.U. dell'Unione Europea L 87/1 del 31.3.2009 - Regolamento (CE) N. 216/2009 del Parlamento Europeo e del Consiglio dell'11 marzo 2009)
Bibliografia
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