False Pilchard, Harengula clupeola

False Pilchard, Harengula clupeola. Fish caught from coastal waters off Caye Ambergris, Belize, June 2013. Length: 8.0 cm (3.1 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Eli (obsessiveangling.wordpress.com).

False Pilchard, Harengula clupeola. Fish caught from coastal waters off Key West, Florida, August 2014. Length: 18 cm (7.1 inches). Catch and photograph courtesy of Dean Kimberly, Atlanta, Georgia.

The False Pilchard, Harengula clupeola, is a member of the Herring or Clupeidae Family, that is also known as the False Herring and in Mexico as sardinita carpachona. There are four global members of the Harengula genus, and all four are found in Mexican waters, three in the Atlantic and one in the Pacific Ocean.

The False Pilchard has a moderately deep fusiform compressed body with a depth that is 28% to 32% of standard length. Both their upper and lower body profiles are convex. They are iridescent blue-green dorsally and silvery with a faint dark longitudinal line on their sides. They have a faint black spot behind their gill covers. Their anal fin tips are dusky and their dorsal fin is transparent. They have large eyes and a mouth that opens at the front with a slightly projecting lower jaw. Their anal fin has 15 to 19 rays and a short base that originates well behind the dorsal fin; their caudal fin is deeply forked; their dorsal fin has 15 to 21 rays and is located slightly before the mid-body; and, their pelvic fins has 7 rays and located closer to the pectoral fin origin than to the anal fin origin. They have 28 to 34 fine gill rakers. Their body is covered with strong scales.

The False Pilchard is a pelagic coastal schooling species that form very large schools found near and within estuaries and lagoons in both marine and brackish waters at depths up of 10 m (35 feet). They reach a maximum of 21.0 cm (8.3 inches) in length and are virtually weightless. The False Pilchard is poorly studied with very limited information available about their lifestyle and behavioral patterns including specific details on age, growth, longevity, movement patterns, diet, habitat use, and reproduction.

The False Pilchard is a resident of all Mexican waters of the Atlantic Ocean including the Gulf of Mexico and the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in the Caribbean.

The False Pilchard is very similar to the Flatiron Herring, Harengula thrissina (only found in the Pacific Ocean). It can be confused with the Redear Sardine, Harengula humeralis (orange body stripes), the Scaled Sardine, Harengula jaguana (wider body; 32 to 39 gill rakers; pelvic fins midway between anal and pectoral fins), and the Spanish Sardine, Sardinella aurita (elongated narrow body; 45 to 90 gill rakers).

From a conservation perspective the False Pilchard is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. When available the False Pilchard is utilized as an excellent live bait for targeting a wide variety of sportsfish. They are also caught commercially with beach seines, cast nets, and purse seines and marketed fresh, however, in some locations they are considered unsuitable for human consumption. They are also utilized to make fish meal.