''Odontesthes regia'' is a

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

belonging to the family Atherinopsidae, commonly referred to in English as Chilean silverside, Peruvian silverside or sea silverside, and in Spanish as pejerrey or pejerrey de mar. This is an epipelagic species distributed from the north

Pacific coast Pacific coast may be used to reference any coastline that borders the Pacific Ocean. Geography Americas Countries on the western side of the Americas have a Pacific coast as their western or southwestern border, except for Panama, where the Pac ...

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

to the Aysén Region, in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. The species has great economic importance as a fresh

staple food A staple food, food staple, or simply a staple, is a food that is eaten often and in such quantities that it constitutes a dominant portion of a standard diet for a given person or group of people, supplying a large fraction of energy needs and ...

. Although the family Atherinopsidae includes 104 species (13 genera), only 17 species have been cytogenetically studied to date; cytogenetic studies in this group are still scarce.

References

regia Taxa named by Alexander von Humboldt Fish described in 1821 {{Atheriniformes-stub