Ammodytes americanus, American sand lance : fisheries

Ammodytes americanus DeKay, 1842

American sand lance
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Ammodytes americanus   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Perciformes/Uranoscopoidei (Sand dwellers) > Ammodytidae (Sand lances)
Etymology: Ammodytes: Greek, ammos = sand + Greek, dytes = anyone that likes immersions, diving (Ref. 45335).
More on author: DeKay.

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

Marine; brackish; demersal; depth range 0 - 73 m (Ref. 57178). Temperate; 62°N - 35°N, 82°W - 3°W (Ref. 57356)

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

Northwest Atlantic: southern Delaware north to Labrador.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm 9.0, range 7 - ? cm
Max length : 23.5 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 5951)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 52 - 61; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 26 - 33; Vertebrae: 62 - 70. Number of lateral plicae 106-126, with a mean of 117.4. Best separated from A. dubius by the number of plicae singly or in combination with the number of vertebrae.
Body shape (shape guide): elongated.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Found in shallow coastal waters as well as in protected bays and estuaries (Ref. 10198). Occurs in large schools and burrows in the sand at times to a depth of several inches. Feeds primarily on copepods (Ref. 27549).

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

Oviparous (Ref. 101747).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Nizinski, M.S., B.B. Collette and B.B. Washington, 1990. Separation of two species of sand lances, Ammodytes americanus and A. dubius, in the western North Atlantic. Fish. Bull. 88:241-255. (Ref. 10198)

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

Not Evaluated 

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: of potential interest
FAO - Publication: search | FishSource | Sea Around Us

More information

Trophic ecology
Food items (preys)
Diet composition
Food consumption
Food rations
Predators
Ecology
Ecology
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Max. ages / sizes
Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
Length-frequencies
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Maturity/Gills rel.
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Internet sources

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

Estimates based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index
(Ref. 82804) 		PD50 = 0.5078 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight a=0.00204 (0.00122 - 0.00342), b=3.14 (3.00 - 3.28), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species & Genus-body shape (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level
(Ref. 69278) 		3.2   ±0.0 se; based on diet studies.
Generation time 4.6 ( na - na) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 1 growth studies.
Resilience
(Ref. 120179) 		Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Fishing Vulnerability
(Ref. 59153) 		Moderate vulnerability (37 of 100). 🛈
Price category
(Ref. 80766) 		Low.
Nutrients
(Ref. 124155) 		Calcium = 60.3 [31.5, 129.4] mg/100g; Iron = 0.414 [0.224, 0.729] mg/100g; Protein = 19 [18, 20] %; Omega3 = 0.421 [0.214, 0.762] g/100g; Selenium = 10.4 [4.7, 22.7] μg/100g; VitaminA = 30.5 [10.1, 92.3] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.845 [0.569, 1.247] mg/100g (wet weight);