Volume 45(esp.):33‑40, 2014 REDESCRIPTION OF THE FRESHWATER ANCHOVY ANCHOVIELLA VAILLANTI (STEINDACHNER, 1908) (CLUPEIFORMES: ENGRAULIDAE) WITH NOTES ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF ESTUARINE CONGENERS IN THE RIO SÃO FRANCISCO BASIN, BRAZIL 1,2 MARINA VIANNA LOEB 1,3 JOSÉ LIMA DE FIGUEIREDO ABSTRACT Anchoviella vaillanti (Steindachner, 1908) was described based on few specimens from the middle Rio São Francisco; however, several specimens of the species have been collected in recent decades. The range of morphological variation of A. vaillanti could thus be reassessed based on a larger number of specimens currently available in fish collections, and the species redescribed. Anchoviella vaillanti can be recognized among freshwater congeners by the relative position of the pelvic, dorsal and anal fins. Records of the species in ichthyological collections are restricted to the upper and middle portions of the Rio São Francisco basin, but the species might also occur in the lower Rio São Francisco. Comments on the distribution of the marine species of Anchoviella from the lower Rio São Francisco basin and an identification key including those species and A. vaillanti are provided. Key-Words: Ichthyology; Taxonomy; Neotropical; Rio São Francisco basin; Anchovy. INTRODUCTION coast and can extend distances up the lower portions of rivers. In a recent study of the Brazilian freshwater Anchoviella is one of the most species-rich gen- species of Anchoviella, Loeb (2009) recognized seven era of the Engraulidae, with about 17 valid marine, different Amazonian species (two of them still unde- estuarine and freshwater species distributed in South scribed) and one single species from the Rio São Fran- American rivers and along the Atlantic and Pacific cisco basin, Anchoviella vaillanti (Steindachner, 1908). coasts of North, Central and South America. The ge- Until recently, A. vaillanti was known from a nus is distinguished in the Engraulidae by the slightly limited series of specimens originating from few lo- compressed body, the presence of usually more than calities. As a consequence, the information as to the 15 elongate gill rakers on the lower branch of the first degree of variation of the morphological characters in gill arch, and a short upper jaw not extending posteri- the species and as to the extent of its geographic dis- orly to the vertical through the anterior margin of the tribution within the Rio São Francisco basin is largely opercle (Whitehead et al., 1988). incomplete. Nine species of Anchoviella occur in Brazil, of Herein we present a redescription of Anchoviella which three are distributed along portions of the vaillanti, and an identification key for the species and 1. Museu de Zoologia, Universidade de São Paulo. Caixa Postal 42.494, CEP 04218-970, São Paulo, SP, Brasil. 2. E-mail: [email protected] 3. E-mail: [email protected] http://dx.doi.org/10.11606/issn.2176-7793.v45iespp33-40 34 Loeb, M.V. & Figueiredo, J.L.: Redescription of ANCHOVIELLA VAILLANTI three other estuarine species of the genus that occur in horizontal rows of scales from the dorsal-fin origin to the Rio São Francisco basin. the anal-fin origin. In the description, the unbranched dorsal, anal, pectoral and pelvic-fin rays are expressed in roman numerals, and branched rays, in arabic num- MATERIAL AND METHODS bers with the frequency of each count indicated in pa- renthesis after the range. Dorsal and anal adnate rays Measurements and counts were made on the left were counted as one ray. In Table 1, counts of fin rays side of 50 specimens according to Loeb (2012), with are the sum of unbranched plus branched rays. Data the addition of the following measurements: distance of the lectotype was taken from Whitehead (1973) from tip of pectoral-fin to pelvic-fin origin; distance and are followed by an asterisk in the description. from tip of pelvic-fin to anal-fin origin; head depth, All examined lots are listed by state according to measured at the vertical through the posterior margin the institution catalog number, followed by the num- of the orbit; maxillary depth, measured at the verti- ber of specimens and range of SL in parenthesis and cal through the posterior margin of the orbit; cheek collection site with its geographic coordinates. length, measured from the posterior margin of the or- bit to posteroventral tip of the upper jaw; postorbital Institutional abbreviations: MCP, Museu de Ciências distance, shortest distance from the posterior margin e Tecnologia da Pontifícia Universidade Católica, of the orbit to the posterior margin of the opercle Porto Alegre; MNRJ, Museu Nacional, Universidade and maxillary length beyond posterior margin of or- Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro; MZUSP, bit (Fig. 1). Number of vertebrae and caudal-fin rays Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo, were counted on 10 cleared and stained specimens as São Paulo; NMW, Naturhistorisches Museum Wien, stated by Whitehead & Teugels (1985) prepared ac- Wien; UEFS, Universidade Estadual de Feira de San- cording to the method of Taylor & Van Dyke (1985). tana, Feira de Santana; UEL, Universidade Estadual Standard length (SL) is expressed in mm, measure- de Londrina, Londrina; UFAL, Universidade Federal ments of subunits of the body are expressed as per- de Alagoas, Maceió; UFBA, Universidade Federal da centage of SL, and subunits of the head, as percentage Bahia, Salvador; UFRPE, Universidade Federal Rural of head length (HL). de Pernambuco, Recife; UFS, Universidade Federal Counts of scales were taken according to Fink de Sergipe, Aracaju; UNT, Universidade Nacional do & Weitzman (1974) with the addition of number of Tocantins, Porto Nacional. FIGURE 1: Measurements of subunits of the head of Anchoviella vaillanti. 1. Head depth, 2. Maxillary depth, 3. Cheek length, 4. Postor- bital distance and 5. Upper jaw length beyond posterior margin of orbit. Arquivos de Zoologia, 45(esp.), 2014 35 TABLE 1: Morphometrics and meristics of Anchoviella vaillanti. n = number of examined specimens, SD = Standard Deviation (frequency in parenthesis). Data of lectotype was taken from Whitehead (1973). Morphometrics Lectotype n Range Mean SD Standard length, SL (mm) 62.7 50 18.3 97.9 42.0 Head length, HL (mm) 75.3 50 4.9 23.3 10.3 Measurements in % of SL Body depth 21.2 50 14.1 25.6 19.8 3.0 Caudal-peduncle depth 50 6.6 12.2 9.5 1.2 Dorsal-fin base length 50 5.9 11.6 9.3 1.0 Anal-fin base length 49 15.2 21.9 19.0 1.6 Pelvic-fin length 50 8.2 13.3 11.4 1.1 Pectoral-fin length 16.7 44 13.6 20.6 17.3 1.5 Predorsal length 54.5 50 49.3 58.6 55.3 1.7 Preanal length 65.8 50 60.1 68.5 65.0 1.8 Prepelvic length 45.5 50 41.4 47.5 43.9 1.6 Prepectoral length 50 21.4 28.1 24.7 1.5 Pectoral-fin axillary scale length 8.7 33 5.2 12.2 7.4 1.3 Pelvic-fin axillary scale length 23 2.3 5.6 4.1 0.7 Head length 26.3 50 21.8 27.2 24.8 1.4 Measurements in % of HL Head depth 48 54.1 66.8 59.9 3.9 Snout length 50 9.6 16.6 13.2 1.7 Orbital diameter 50 26.0 37.0 32.3 2.3 Cheek length 48 28.2 40.3 33.3 2.9 Maxillary depth 48 3.3 11.9 6.7 1.6 Upper jaw length 48 57.9 69.2 63.8 3.2 Post-orbital distance 47 45.0 56.5 50.1 2.8 Interorbital width 48 23.0 30.9 27.7 1.7 Meristics n Range Total dorsal-fin rays 13 47 10 – 14 Total anal-fin rays 23 44 21 – 26 Total pectoral-fin rays 13 43 9 – 14 Total pelvic-fin rays 7 42 7 Vertebrae 4 37 – 38 Longitudinal line scales 10 33 – 37 Scales in body depth 5 6 – 7 Circumpeduncular scales 5 10 Gill rakers on1st gill arch 31 31 – 39 Upper branch 31 12 – 16 Lower branch 31 19 – 24 Measurements and counts of Anchoviella bre- Comparative material: Anchoviella brevirostris: UFBA virostris, A. lepidentostole and another species provi- 6688 (2, 72.38-82.52 mm SL), Alagoas, Piaçabuçu, sionally referred to as Anchoviella cf. cayenesis (Puyo, Rio São Francisco, in the surroundings of Pia- 1946), which is currently under review by the first çabuçu. Anchoviella cf. cayenesis: MZUSP 113730 author, were performed on specimens collected at the (2, 120.65-121.34 mm SL), Alagoas, Penedo, Rio São lower portions of the Rio São Francisco basin or close Francisco; UFBA 6688 (2, 114.12-114.61 mm SL), to the mouth of that river. Alagoas, Piaçabuçu, Rio São Francisco, at Piaçabuçu Morphological data for Anchoviella manamensis neighborhood. Anchoviella jamesi: MZUSP 29093 Cervigón, 1982, A. alleni (Myers, 1940), A. carrikeri (4, 47.68-50.2 mm SL), Amazonas, Rio Tefé, Jurupa- Fowler, 1940 and A. guianensis (Eigenmann, 1912) ri, 03°22’S, 64°43’W. Anchoviella juruasanga: MZUSP were taken from the original descriptions, with addi- 109249 (1, 42.4 mm SL), Pará, Rio Trombetas, upstream tional data from Hildebrand (1943). Morphological from mouth of Lago do Jacaré, at Reserva Biológica data for Anchoviella brevirostris, Anchoviella cf. cay- de Trombetas, 01°20’S 56°51’W. Anchoviella lepiden- enensis, A. jamesi, A. juruasanga and A. lepidentostole tostole: MZUSP 108160 (5, 87.32-103.67 mm SL), were taken from specimens listed below. Rio São Francisco, close to its mouth; MZUSP 36 Loeb, M.V. & Figueiredo, J.L.: Redescription of ANCHOVIELLA VAILLANTI 51744 (1, 90.28 mm SL), Alagoas, Penedo, Rio São (2, 92.38-116.85 mm SL) Rio São Francisco at left Francisco, at ferry port, 10°17’29”S, 36°35’12”W; margin, downstream of Belém do São Francisco, UFBA 6579 (12, 85.18-113.99 mm CP), Penedo, 08°47’46”S, 38°56’42”W.