Menidia menidia, Atlantic silverside : fisheries, aquarium

Menidia menidia (Linnaeus, 1766)

Atlantic silverside
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Menidia menidia   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Menidia menidia (Atlantic silverside)
Menidia menidia
Picture by Eakins, R.

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Atheriniformes (Silversides) > Atherinopsidae (Neotropical silversides) > Menidiinae
Etymology: Menidia: Greek, menoeides, -es, -es = like a half noon shape (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Linnaeus.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; brackish; pelagic-neritic; anadromous (Ref. 126106); depth range 0 - 3 m (Ref. 85409). Temperate; 1°C - 33°C (Ref. 35682); 60°N - 25°N, 82°W - 52°W

Distribution Territories | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Western Atlantic: Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canada to northeastern Florida in USA.

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 15.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 7251); common length : 11.5 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 12193); max. reported age: 2.00 years (Ref. 12193)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Anal soft rays: 23 - 26.
Body shape (shape guide): elongated.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Adults feed on copepods, mysids, shrimps, small squids and marine worms (Ref. 7251); also eggs of their own species (Ref. 5951). Preyed upon by striped bass (Ref. 7251) and bluefish (chief predators) (Ref. 5951). Oviparous, eggs are deposited on the substrate during a spawning run along the shore (Ref. 38155). Silversides are sometimes used as live food for trout (Ref. 7251).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Robins, C.R. and G.C. Ray, 1986. A field guide to Atlantic coast fishes of North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, U.S.A. 354 p. (Ref. 7251)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2025-2 (Global))

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 29 January 2013

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: minor commercial; aquarium: commercial
FAO - Fisheries: landings search; Publication: search | FishSource | Sea Around Us

More information

Trophic ecology
Food items (preys)
Diet composition
Food consumption
Food rations
Predators
Ecology
Ecology
Population dynamics
Growth parameters
Max. ages / sizes
Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
Length-frequencies
Mass conversion
Recruitment
Abundance
Life cycle
Reproduction
Maturity
Maturity/Gills rel.
Fecundity
Spawning
Spawning aggregations
Eggs
Egg development
Larvae
Larval dynamics
Distribution
Territories
FAO areas
Ecosystems
Occurrences
Introductions
BRUVS - Videos
Anatomy
Gill area
Brain
Otolith
Physiology
Body composition
Nutrients
Oxygen consumption
Swimming type
Swimming speed
Visual pigments
Fish sound
Diseases & Parasites
Toxicity (LC50s)
Genetics
Genome
Genetics
Heterozygosity
Heritability
Genetic Diversity
Human related
Aquaculture systems
Aquaculture profiles
Strains
Ciguatera cases
Stamps, coins, misc.
Outreach
Collaborators
Taxonomy
Common names
Synonyms
Morphology
Morphometrics
Pictures
References
References

Tools

E-book | Field guide | Identification keys | Length-frequency wizard | Life-history tool | Point map | Catch-MSY |

Special reports

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Summary page | Point data | Common names | Photos

Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Fisheries: landings search; Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | OceanAdapt | OneZoom | Open Tree of Life | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | Public aquariums | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | TreeBase | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index
(Ref. 82804) 		PD50 = 0.5039 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight a=0.00537 (0.00291 - 0.00992), b=3.07 (2.91 - 3.23), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species & (Sub)family-body (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level
(Ref. 69278) 		3.2   ±0.1 se; based on diet studies.
Resilience
(Ref. 120179) 		High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (K=1.1-1.4; tmax=2).
Fishing Vulnerability
(Ref. 59153) 		Low vulnerability (13 of 100). 🛈
Climate Vulnerability
(Ref. 125649) 		Moderate to high vulnerability (50 of 100). 🛈
Price category
(Ref. 80766) 		Low.
Nutrients
(Ref. 124155) 		Calcium = 131 [75, 340] mg/100g; Iron = 0.858 [0.473, 1.574] mg/100g; Protein = 19 [16, 22] %; Omega3 = 0.507 [0.191, 1.466] g/100g; Selenium = 6.06 [1.98, 15.58] μg/100g; VitaminA = 19.4 [5.3, 76.9] μg/100g; Zinc = 1.22 [0.78, 1.90] mg/100g (wet weight);