''Anchoa hepsetus'', commonly known as the broad-striped anchovy, is a species of

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or hor ...

in the family

Engraulidae An anchovy is a small, common forage fish of the family Engraulidae. Most species are found in marine waters, but several will enter brackish water, and some in South America are restricted to fresh water. More than 140 species are placed in 1 ...

. It grows to be about 15 cm (6 in) long. The broad-striped anchovy is found in the west Atlantic along the North American coast from Nova Scotia and the Maine coast scarcely, and abundantly from the Chesapeake bay to the West Indies and Uruguay. It is found most commonly in shoals along coastal waters, as deep as 73 m (40 fathoms) although mostly found water more shallow than this. The broad-striped anchovy spawns in spring. Their eggs are pelagic and hatch within 48 hours at regular spring temperatures. At young ages, it eats

copepod Copepods (; meaning "oar-feet") are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat (ecology), habitat. Some species are planktonic (inhabiting sea waters), some are benthos, benthic (living on the ocean floor) ...

s, but as the fish ages, its diet begins to consist of other small crustaceans,

mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

s, and worm larvae. It is an important food staple for large commercial fishes, such as the American seatrout. It is commonly eaten by birds. It is elongate with large eyes and protuberant snout, large mouth and underslung jaw. Its anal fin is quite short and its front fin lies beneath the end of the dorsal fin. It is grey-green with black dots, but its notable feature is its silvery stripe from head to tail.

References

*J. S. Valencia and R. Regis, ''Reproductive characteristics of Anchoa hepsetus'', Proc. Gulf Caribb. Fish. Inst.

hepsetus ''Hepsetus'' is a genus of African fishes, the African pikes or African pike characins, in the order Characiformes. It is the sole genus in the family Hepsetidae. It was long believed that only a single widespread species existed, ''H. odoe'', b ...

Fish described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Clupeiformes-stub