Sharpnose Anchovy, Anchoa ischana

Sharpnose Anchovy, Anchoa ischana. Fish caught with a cast net within the coastal waters of Magdalena Bay, Baja California Sur, May 2017.  Length: 9.0 cm (3.5 inches).

The Sharpnose Anchovy, Anchoa ischana, whose common Spanish name is anchoa chicotera, is a species in the Anchovy or Engraudlidae Family, known collectively as sardinas in Mexico. Globally, there are thirty-five species in the genus Anchoa, twenty-three of which are found in Mexican waters, nine in the Atlantic and fourteen in the Pacific Ocean.

The Sharpnose Anchovies are characterized by an elongated semi-cylindrical body with a snout that features a pointed tip of medium length and approximately the diameter of the eyes. They have a short anal fin base and short pectoral fins. A key identification characteristic is the silver stripe along their flank which is narrow at the front, being approximately one-half the diameter of the eyes, and widens towards the tail. Their anal fin originates under the end of their dorsal fin.

The Sharpnose Anchovies are found in the first 30 feet of the water column and reach a maximum length of 15 cm (5.9 inches). They are a small not overly abundant species and very little is known about their behavioral patterns.

In Mexican waters the Sharpnose Anchovy are found from Magdalena Bay southward along the southwest coast of Baja, throughout the Sea of Cortez, and along the coast of the mainland south to Guatemala.

The Sharpnose Anchovy can be easily confused with the Gulf Anchovy, Anchoa helleri (long snout, long upper jaw, width of silver stripe on flank matching the eye diameter, anal fin commencing under the last rays of the dorsal fin), the Silverstripe Anchovy, Anchoa argentivittata (uniformly-sized silver stripe, long snout, long distance between the eye and the end of the snout), and the Slender Anchovy, Anchoa exigua (narrow silver stripe along flank, anal fin originating under the center of the dorsal fin).

The Sharpnose Anchovy is of limited interest to most. In certain years this species is fairly common during winter months in the greater Los Cabos area. They do not survive a bait tank and thus are either used as chum or tail hooked to a 2/0 hook in groups of five or six and sent “down deep.”