''Gilchristella aestuaria'', the Gilchrist's round herring or estuarine round-herring, is a member of the herring family

Clupeidae Clupeidae is a family of ray-finned fishes, comprising, for instance, the herrings, shads, sardines, hilsa, and menhadens. The clupeoids include many of the most important food fishes in the world, and are also commonly caught for production of ...

that occurs off the coasts of

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number of ...

. It is the only species in its genus, which was named for

John Dow Fisher Gilchrist John Dow Fisher Gilchrist (1866–1926) was a Scottish ichthyologist, who established ichthyology as a scientific discipline in South Africa. He was instrumental in the development of marine biology in South Africa and of a scientifically based ...

(1866–1926).

Information

There are no indications of major threats to this species. It is considered to be of least concern for becoming an endangered species.

Size

The average length of the ''G. aestuaria'' as an unsexed male is about ten centimeters.

Habitat

The ''Gilchristella aestuaria'' can be found in a marine environment and in freshwater. The habitat is located in subtropical climates. This species is primarily found in estuaries, lagoons, lakes, and rivers. It is considered an extremely important fish in estuaries of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. This small

sardine "Sardine" and "pilchard" are common names for various species of small, oily forage fish in the herring family Clupeidae. The term "sardine" was first used in English during the early 15th century, a folk etymology says it comes from the Ital ...

-like fish lives in large shoals and provides an important link in the

food chain A food chain is a linear network of links in a food web starting from producer organisms (such as grass or algae which produce their own food via photosynthesis) and ending at an apex predator species (like grizzly bears or killer whales), det ...

as a food source to larger fish and

water bird A water bird, alternatively waterbird or aquatic bird, is a bird that lives on or around water. In some definitions, the term ''water bird'' is especially applied to birds in freshwater ecosystems, although others make no distinction from seabi ...

s. This fish does not survive in an

aquarium An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...

, presumably dying from capture

myopathy In medicine, myopathy is a disease of the muscle in which the muscle fibers do not function properly. This results in muscular weakness. ''Myopathy'' means muscle disease (Greek : myo- ''muscle'' + patheia '' -pathy'' : ''suffering''). This meani ...

or stress.

Distribution

The Gilchristella aestuaria is distributed throughout the following areas: *Africa *Lake Piti *Mozambique *Southern African coast *Saldanha Bay *Orange River *Namibia *South Africa *Eastern Cape Province *KwaZulu-Natal *Northern Cape Province

References

External links

* Gilchrist's round herring Marine fish of Southern Africa Gilchrist's round herring Taxa named by John Dow Fisher Gilchrist Monotypic fish genera Monotypic marine fish genera Monotypic ray-finned fish genera {{Clupeiformes-stub