CLUPEIDAE


Amblygaster leiogaster, 19.6 cm SL
(photo by Seishi Kimura)



Amblygaster leiogaster, 17.9 cm SL
(from North Sulawesi, Indonesia; photo by Seishi Kimura)


Amblygaster leiogaster
(Valenciennes, 1847)
Smoothbelly Sardinella

D 17-18; A 18-21; P1 16-17; P2 8; LGR 31-36.

Body moderately slender, somewhat cylindrical; belly rounded with 17-18 prepelvic and 13-15 postpelvic somewhat weak scutes (30-33 in total). Upper jaw, reaching to anterior margin of eye, with 2 supramaxillae; the second (posterior) supramaxillae symmetrical. Opercle smooth, without bony radiating striae. Shoulder girdle (cleithrum) margin with 2 outgrowths. Scales cycloid; a median series of predorsal scales present. Color: dark bluegreen dorsally, silvery ventrally without blackish spots laterally on trunk; dorsal fin blackish. Size: commonly to 18 cm, maximum 23 cm SL. Distribution: Indo-West Pacific from Africa to Indonesia and Western Australia, north to Okinawa, Japan. Remarks: found in coastal waters. Marketed fresh, dried, or dried-salted.(Seishi Kimura)