Alosa braschnikowi (Borodin, 1904)
Caspian marine shad
Alosa braschnikowi
photo by FAO

Family:  Alosidae (Shads and Sardines)
Max. size:  50 cm SL (male/unsexed)
Environment:  pelagic; brackish, oceanodromous
Distribution:  Former USSR and Asia: Caspian Sea.
Diagnosis:  Dorsal spines (total): 0-0; Anal spines: 0-0. Body fairly elongate, more `herring-like' than `shad-like'. gill rakers thick and coarse, shorter, equal to or a little longer than gill filaments, either straight or curved, pointed or blunt, occasionally even bifurcated at tips. Teeth well developed in both jaws. Other Caspian shads have deeper, more shad-like bodies.
Biology:  Occurs in brackish water and non-anadromous, but strongly migratory. Feeds on small clupeids, gobies, atherines, also crustaceans and occasionally insects and mollusks. Spawning patterns among the subspecies vary but occur mostly in spring and summer after an inshore migration and movement northward.
IUCN Red List Status: Data deficient (DD); Date assessed: 17 July 2017 Ref. (130435)
Threat to humans:  harmless


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