Sand Whiting - Description

Description

The sand whiting has a very similar profile to other members of the genus Sillago, with a slightly compressed, elongate body tapering toward the terminal mouth. The dorsal fin is in two parts, the first made of feeble spines and the second of soft rays headed by a single feeble spine, while the ventral profile is straight. The species is known to grow to a maximum size of 51 cm and around 1.25 kg weight.

The fin anatomy is highly useful for identification purposes, with the species having 11 spines in the first dorsal fin, with one spine and 16 or 18 soft rays on the second dorsal fin. The anal fin has two spines with 15 to 17 soft rays posterior to the spines. Lateral line scales and cheek scales are also distinctive, with sand whiting possessing 60 to 69 lateral line scales and cheek scales positioned in 3-4 rows, all of which are ctenoid. The amount of vertebrae are also diagnostic, having 32 to 34 in total. The swim bladder has rudimentary tubules projecting anteriorly and a series laterally that diminish in size and become sawtooth-like posteriorly. The posterior extension is a single, tapering projection that extends well into the caudal region. A duct like process extends from the ventral surface to the urogenital opening. Swim bladder morphology is useless when determining between S. ciliata and S. analis, as they are nearly identical.

The body is a pale brown or silvery brown colour, transitioning to white below, with green, mauve and rosy reflections when the fish is first removed from the water. An indistinct silver-yellow mid-lateral band extends across some specimens. The spinous dorsal fin is olive green with faint darker blotches, the second dorsal fin also a pale olive with rows of dark brown to blackish spots. The anal and ventral fins are pale yellow, the pectorals are pale yellow to pale brown with a well defined dark blue-black blotch at the base. The caudal fin is yellow to olive in colour with darker margins. Juveniles less than 90 mm may have darker blotches along their sides and backs.

Read more about this topic:  Sand Whiting

Famous quotes containing the word description:

    The next Augustan age will dawn on the other side of the Atlantic. There will, perhaps, be a Thucydides at Boston, a Xenophon at New York, and, in time, a Virgil at Mexico, and a Newton at Peru. At last, some curious traveller from Lima will visit England and give a description of the ruins of St. Paul’s, like the editions of Balbec and Palmyra.
    Horace Walpole (1717–1797)

    I fancy it must be the quantity of animal food eaten by the English which renders their character insusceptible of civilisation. I suspect it is in their kitchens and not in their churches that their reformation must be worked, and that Missionaries of that description from [France] would avail more than those who should endeavor to tame them by precepts of religion or philosophy.
    Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)

    The Sage of Toronto ... spent several decades marveling at the numerous freedoms created by a “global village” instantly and effortlessly accessible to all. Villages, unlike towns, have always been ruled by conformism, isolation, petty surveillance, boredom and repetitive malicious gossip about the same families. Which is a precise enough description of the global spectacle’s present vulgarity.
    Guy Debord (b. 1931)