Clupeiformes

Freyhof, JÖrg, Yoğurtçuoğlu, Baran, Jouladeh-Roudbar, Arash & Kaya, Cüneyt, 2025, Handbook of Freshwater Fishes of West Asia, De Gruyter : 61

Order Clupeiformes

Herrings

A large group of pelagic fishes living in all seas except the Antarctic. Clupeiformes is one of the most important fish orders in all open-ocean ecosystems. It plays an important role in fisheries. Most species are marine, but many enter estuaries to forage or spawn. Some are anadromous or permanent freshwater inhabitants. Clupeiformes are unmistakably distinct from other freshwater fish in the area, identified by the presence of a ventral keel with scute-like scales forming a toothed edge when viewed in profile, a

large fleshy eyelid, no lateral line, and no adipose fin. The order has recently been reviewed, and a new family structure was proposed, which is followed here. Shads of the genus Alosa are now placed in their own family, Alosidae . Clupeonella is placed in Ehiravidae , Nematalosa and Tenualosa are in Dorosomatidae . The earliest fossil clupeiform is the pan-clupeoid Cynoclupea from the Barremian-Aptian (129.4–113.0 million years ago) in the Cretaceous of Brazil. Further reading. Whitehead 1985 (diversity); Hoestlandt 1991a (morphology); Nelson et al. 2016 (diversity); Wang et al. 2022 (phylogeny); Near & Thacker 2024 (earliest fossil).

Key to genera of Clupeiformes in freshwaters of West Asia

1a - Snout pig-like, protruding mouth; lower jaw very 3a - Last two anal rays longer than preceding rays and long, its articulation extending behind posterior eye paddle-shaped; upper jaw without median notch; no margin, usually extending to a point well beyond, almost black lateral spots; no elongated scales at base of caudal to vertical through posterior eye margin. lobes.

……………… Thrissina ……………… Clupeonella

1b - Snout not protruding mouth; articulation of lower 3b - Last two anal rays of same length as preceding jaw not extending behind posterior eye margin. rays; upper jaw with median notch; black lateral spots ………………2 present in most individuals; elongated scales at base of caudal lobes.

2a - Last dorsal ray elongate, filamentous, longer than ………………4

first branched dorsal ray; mouth subterminal.

……………… Nematalosa 4a - Scales on caudal base not elongated.

2b - Last dorsal ray, shorter than first branched dorsal ……………… Tenualosa

ray; mouth terminal or superior. 4b - Two elongated scales on caudal base.

………………3 ……………… Alosa

Lake Apolyont in Türkiye was known for landlocked shads. These seem to have vanished from all lakes in West Asia.

Open Access.© 2025 JÖrg Freyhof,Baran Yoğurtçuoğlu,Arash Jouladeh-Roudbar and Cüneyt Kaya,published by De Gruyter. the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111677811-006

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