Heller’s Anchovy, Anchoa helleri

Heller’s Anchovy, Anchoa helleri. Fish caught from coastal waters off Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, May 2026. Length: 8.5 cm (3.3 inches). Catch, photograph and Identification courtesy of Vince Golder, Santa Cruz, California.

Heller’s Anchovy, Anchoa helleri, is a member of the Anchovy or Engraulidae Family, that is also known as the Gulf Anchovy and in Mexico as anchoa de Heller and anchoa del golfo. Globally, there are thirty-five species in the genus Anchoa, of which twenty-three are found in Mexican waters, nine in the Atlantic and fourteen in the Pacific Ocean.

Heller’s Anchovy has an elongated, slender body with an oval cross-section. They are a silvery translucent color with a mid-lateral silver stripe that is equal to the eye diameter but becomes deeper above the anal fin. Their head has a fairly long snout that equals the eye diameter with a moderately sized mouth that reaches the mid-gill cover that has a bluntly pointed tip. Their anal fin has 16 to 21 rays and originates just behind the midpoint of the dorsal fin; their dorsal fin originates mid-body; their pectoral fins are short and do not reach the pelvic fins and the pelvic fins extend to the dorsal origin.

Heller’s Anchovy is a pelagic coastal schooling species that are found in a variety of shallow waters that form large compact schools are abundant off beaches over sand and gravel substrate being found at depths up to 50 m (165 feet). They reach a maximum of 8.5 cm (3.3 inches) in length. They are filter feeders that consume zooplankton. In turn they are preyed upon by numerous sea birds and fishes. Reproduction is oviparous and occurs in large school with each female broadcasting eggs which are fertilized externally. The eggs are larvae are planktonic. Heller’s Anchovy is poorly studied with very limited information available about their lifestyle and behavioral patterns including specific details on age, diet, growth, habitat, longevity, movement patterns, and reproduction.

Heller’s Anchovy is easily confused with the Sharpnose Anchovy, Anchoa ischana (stripe three-fourths of eye diameter, the Silverstripe Anchovy, Anchoa argentivitttata (anal inserted behind the dorsal fin) and the Slender Anchovy, Anchoa exigua (stripe one-half eye diameter).

Heller’s Anchovy is an ENDEMIC resident of Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean but is limited to the entire Sea of Cortez however population in the southern regions are extremely limited.

From a conservation perspective Heller’s Anchovy is currently considered to be of Least Concern, with stable, widely distributed populations. Their long-term survival has been adversely affected by human coastal developments and pollution within their coastal nursery areas. They are small in stature and of limited interest to most. They are a bycatch of trawl fisheries and normally discarded.