Herring smelt

Herring smelts or argentines
Greater argentine, Argentina silus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Osmeriformes
Family:	Argentinidae
Genera
Argentina Glossanodon See text for species.

The herring smelts or argentines are a family, Argentinidae, of osmeriform fishes. They are similar in appearance to smelts (family Osmeridae) but have much smaller mouths.

Ontogenic series of a fossil species of the genus Argentina, the Geological Museum, Copenhagen

They are found in oceans throughout the world. They are small fishes, growing up to 25 cm long, excepting the Greater argentine, Argentina silus, which reaches 70 cm.

They form large schools close to the sea floor and feed on plankton, especially krill, amphipods, small cephalopods, chaetognaths and ctenophores.

Several species are fished commercially and processed into fish meal.

Species

There are 25 species in two genera:

• Genus Argentina
  • Alice argentina, Argentina aliceae Cohen & Atsaides, 1969.
  • Argentina australiae Cohen, 1958.
  • Bruce's argentine, Argentina brucei Cohen & Atsaides, 1969.
  • Argentina elongata Hutton, 1879.
  • Argentina euchus Cohen, 1961.
  • Argentina georgei Cohen & Atsaides, 1969.
  • Argentina kagoshimae Jordan & Snyder, 1902.
  • North-Pacific argentine, Argentina sialis Gilbert, 1890.
  • Greater argentine, Argentina silus (Ascanius, 1775).
  • Argentina sphyraena Linnaeus, 1758.
  • Argentina stewarti Cohen & Atsaides, 1969.
  • Striated argentine, Argentina striata Goode & Bean, 1896.
• Genus Glossanodon
  • Glossanodon australis Kobyliansky, 1998.
  • Glossanodon danieli Parin & Shcherbachev, 1982.
  • Glossanodon elongatus (Hutton, 1879).
  • Small-toothed argentine, Glossanodon leioglossus (Valenciennes, 1848).
  • Glossanodon lineatus (Matsubara, 1943).
  • Glossanodon melanomanus Kobyliansky, 1998.
  • Glossanodon mildredae Cohen & Atsaides, 1969.
  • Glossanodon nazca Parin & Shcherbachev, 1982.
  • Glossanodon polli Cohen, 1958.
  • Glossanodon pseudolineatus Kobyliansky, 1998.
  • Pygmy argentine, Glossanodon pygmaeus Cohen, 1958.
  • Glossanodon semifasciatus (Kishinouye, 1904).
  • Struhsaker's deep-sea smelt, Glossanodon struhsakeri Cohen, 1970.

References

• Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2006). "Argentinidae" in FishBase. January 2006 version.