Deepbody Anchovy, Anchoa compressa
Deepbody Anchovy, Anchoa compressa. Fish caught with a cast net off the pier Puerto Adolfo Lopez Mateos, Baja California Sur, May 2017. Length: 14.0 cm (5.5 inches).
The Deepbody Anchovy, Anchoa compressa, is a member of the Anchovy or Engraulidae Family, and is known in Mexico as anchoa alta. 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 Deepbody Anchovy has a moderately deep and elongated body with a depth that is 24% to 26% of standard length. They are transparent and silvery overall with a bright silver stripe along their flank that is as wide as their eye diameter. Their head has a pointed snout with a blunt tip that is short and about one-half to three-fourths the eye diameter and overhangs the lower jaw. Their eyes are disproportionately large. Their anal fin originates just before the center of the dorsal fin base and has 27 to 34 rays; their dorsal fin originates mid-body and has 12 to 14 rays; and their pectoral fins are long reaching the pelvic fin base. They have 21 to 24 gill rakers.
The Deepbody Anchovy is a pelagic schooling species found in coastal waters, including brackish waters of bays and inlets. They are found in the first 60 feet of the water column and reach a maximum of 16.5 cm (6.5 inches) in length. They are filter feeders and consume plankton. They reproduce via oviparity with external fertilization with the eggs and larvae being planktonic. They have lifespans of six years. The Deepbody Anchovy 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 Deepbody Anchovy is a resident of Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean but has a limited distribution being found from Todos Santos, Baja California Sur, northwards along the central and northwest coasts of the Baja.
The Deepbody Anchovy can be easily confused with the Bright Anchovy, Anchoa lucida (body depth 21-23%; caudal fin with black tips; silver stripe width equal to one half the eye diameter) and the Northern Gulf Anchovy, Anchoa mundeoloides (limited to the extreme northern portion of the Sea of Cortez; narrow silver stripe with width equal to eye pupil).
From a conservation perspective the Deepbody Anchovy is currently considered to be of Least Concern with widely distributed stable populations. They are fairly common and used primarily as bait fish being caught near shore with cast nets. Efforts to introduce this species into Hawaiian waters in 1932 failed.