(Rüppell, 1837)
1. Distinctive characters of early developmental stages
(a) Eggs
Stolephorus heterolobus 1
Eggs are elliptical with 1.14 - 1.39 mm x 0.5 - 0 .65 mm size and without a knob; yolk is transparent, segmented and occupies about two third of the length of the egg; embryo occupies nearly the entire length of the yolk. A small yellow oil globule (0.05 mm diameter) is situated at the posterior end of the yolk. Yolk and embryo are not pigmented.
(b) Larvae
Not yet recorded from the mangroves.
(c) Juveniles and adults
Anal fin originates under or little behind last dorsal ray; maxilla pointed posteriorly, projecting beyond anterior border of preoperculum; urohyal plate bony, lower gill rakers 24 - 27; head short; head length more than 4 times in standard length and maxillary teeth even. (Whitehead, 1972)
2. Distinctive characters of early developmental stages in similar species occurring in the mangroves
(a) Eggs of Stolephorus macrops
A small vacuole-like structure seen above the oil globule. (vide Stolephorus macrops 1)
(b) Eggs of Stolephorus tri
Oil globule relatively bigger in size (0.08 mm diameter). (vide Stolephorus tri 1)
3. Distinctive characters of early developmental stages in similar species occurring in the coastal/deep waters
(a) Eggs of Stolephorus bataviensis , S. commersonii and S. indicus
The eggs possess a distinct knob at the animal pole. The terminal wall of this knob is pierced by a fine canal to form the micropyle (Delsman, 1931).
(b) Larvae of other Stolephorus spp.
Anal fin originates under the dorsal fin. (In S. heterolobus, the anal fin originates behind the dorsal fin).
Relatively lesser number of myomeres as characterized by less number of vertebrae in adults. (More numbers - 42 - in Stolephorus heterolobus ).
4. Salient ecological information
(a) Habitat
The eggs occur in lower reaches of the estuarine mangroves sporadically in certain season and the young ones and adults rarely visit the mangroves from the adjacent coast.
(b) Geographic distribution
Madagascar, East Africa, Red sea, India, Indo- Malayan Archipelago, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Okinawa (Whitehead, 1972).
5. Capture fisheries and utilization
This species forms, the bulk of the anchovy fishery in Singapore, Thailand Philippines and East coasts of India (Whitehead, 1972; Ronquillo, 1970). Often utilized as dry fish. Now a days, unfortunately the bulk of the catch does not reach the market for human consumption in most of the developing South East Asian countries. Instead, it reaches the shrimp feed industry because of its flavour cum attractability, balanced essential amino acids profile, least levels of antinutritional factors and pathogenic microbial contaminants, poor purchase power of local people and lucrative expert market for farm reared shrimp. Though separate catch statistics are not available for this species, the total anchovy landings from the Indian marine catch decreased from 109,797 torines during 1983 to 74,445 tonnes during 1987.