New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts
The two species of sprat in New Zealand waters (Sprattus antipodum and S. muelleri)
P. J. P. WHITEHEAD
P. J. SMITH
D. A. ROBERTSON
British Museum (Natural History)
Cromwell Road, London SW1 5BD
England
Fisheries Research Division Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries P. O. Box 297, Wellington New Zealand
Abstract
Two broadly sympatric species of sprat are shown to inhabit New Zealand waters, the more slender
Sprattus antipodum (Hector, 1872) and the more common and deeper-bodied
S. muelleri (Klunzinger, 1872). Overlap in most morphometric and meristic characters had earlier led to their synonymy, but recent protein analysis suggested otherwise. This is now confirmed by distinct differences in shape and dentition of the basihyal plate, vertebral numbers, scale sculpture, and fresh colour. The five known species of
Sprattus are keyed and the genus diagnosed and discussed.
Keywords sprat; Sprattus antipodum; Sprattus muelleri; electrophoresis; basihyal toothplate; New Zealand; key
New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 1985, Vol.19 261-271 Received 12 March 1984; accepted 11 October 1984
PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (920K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)
This year's abstracts |
Journal home page |
All abstracts |
Publishing home page
