Kingdom Animalia Suborder Percoidei Phylum Chordata Order Perciformes | Class Actinopterygii Family Sciaenidae Rank Genus | |
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Similar Bairdiella, Kingcroaker, Cynoscion, Perciformes | ||
Hemichromis stellifer f1 with first fry
Stellifer is a genus of fish in the family Sciaenidae, the drums and croakers. It is found in New World waters. Many species are known commonly as stardrums.
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In the Americas, this is one of the most diverse genera among the sciaenids. Its members can be found in the tropics and subtropics and in shallow and deeper waters. Some are semianadromous, spawning in the ocean near estuaries so the eggs and young will be taken into lower-salinity environments on the tides.
The genus belongs to the subfamily Stelliferinae, whose members have double-chambered swim bladders (the smaller front chamber is "yoke-shaped" and the main chamber is "carrot-shaped") and two pairs of large otoliths.
These fish are very common in their range, and there are usually at least two species occurring together. Stellifer rastrifer is one of the most abundant sciaenids in the seas along the coast of Brazil.
These fish are carnivorous, with diet assessments of a few different species finding mysids such as Mysidopsis coelhoi, copepods such as Acartia lilljeborgii and Pseudodiaptomus acutus, sergestoid prawns such as Peisos petrunkevitchi, amphipods, chaetognaths, isopods, cumaceans, ostracods, ascidian tunicates, nematodes, polychaetes, fish, and bivalves, or at least their siphons. S. rastrifer is known to cannibalize juveniles of its own species.
Several species are common bycatch in the seabob shrimp industry.
Species include: