Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) > Clupeiformes
(Herrings) > Engraulidae
(Anchovies) > Engraulinae
Etymology: Anchoa: Italian ancioa = anchovy (Ref. 45335).
Environment / Climate / Range
Marine; brackish; pelagic-neritic; depth range 0 - 50 m (Ref. 189). Subtropical; 36°N - 20°N, 121°W - 110°W (Ref. 189)
Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 13.3 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 9298); common length : 10.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 9298); max. reported age: 6 years (Ref. 72482)
soft rays: 27 - 34. Moderately deep. Snout pointed, about 1/2 to 3/4 eye diameter; maxilla moderate, tip rather blunt, not reaching to hind border of pre-operculum; pseudobranch short, covered by skin; gill cover canals of panamensis-type. Anal fin origin a little before midpoint of dorsal fin base. A bright silver stripe along flank, often as wide as eye, not fading on preservation.
Eastern Central Pacific: Morro Bay, California (Ref. 2850) to Magdalena Bay, Baja California, Mexico.
A schooling species most commonly found in bays and inlets (the fourth most abundant fish taken by various gear in Newport Bay, California; its eggs are the most abundant of 7 species sampled, especially in May). The ovarian eggs are spherical. Eggs and larvae are planktonic (Ref. 35602). Feeds on plankton (Ref. 8593). Basically filter-feeders, but at times have been observed feeding by selection (Ref. 4930). Normally used as bait (Ref. 9298).
Life cycle and mating behavior
Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae
Whitehead, P.J.P., G.J. Nelson and T. Wongratana, 1988. FAO Species Catalogue. Vol. 7. Clupeoid fishes of the world (Suborder Clupeoidei). An annotated and illustrated catalogue of the herrings, sardines, pilchards, sprats, shads, anchovies and wolf-herrings. FAO Fish. Synop. 125(7/2):305-579. Rome: FAO. (Ref. 189)
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 96402)
CITES (Ref. 94142)
Threat to humans
ReferencesAquacultureAquaculture profileStrainsGeneticsAllele frequenciesHeritabilityDiseasesProcessingMass conversion
Estimates of some properties based on models
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82805
= 0.5000 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00562 (0.00239 - 0.01326), b=3.11 (2.93 - 3.29), based on LWR estimates for this Genus-body shape (Ref. 93245
Trophic Level (Ref. 69278
): 3.4 ±0.45 se; Based on food items.
Resilience (Ref. 69278
): High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Vulnerability (Ref. 59153
): Low vulnerability (15 of 100) .