Anchovy

Belly with 16 to 19 keeled scutes from pectoral fin base to anus. Maxilla short, tip blunt; first supra-maxilla absent. Lower gill rakers short, with large tooth-like serrae. Anal fin origin before dorsal fin origin by about an eye diameter. Pectoral fins wholly or partly black, caudal yellow with black margin The enlarged jaw teeth distinguish it from any other Indo-West Pacific anchovy (Ref. 189). Relatively small head; flat dorsal profile; long axillary scales at pectoral and pelvic bases (Ref. 43281).

Potamodromous. Migrating within streams, migratory in rivers, e.g. Saliminus, Moxostoma, Labeo. Migrations should be cyclical and predictable and cover more than 100 km.

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Analspines: 0; Analsoft rays: 44 - 48

Feeds on fish and benthic animals (Ref. 189).

A riverine and lacustrine species, but perhaps passing from estuaries into the sea. More data needed; rather few specimens are in museum collections (Ref. 189). Often ascends into freshwater (Ref. 12693). Occurs in medium to large-sized rivers of the lower Mekong (Ref. 12975). Apparently non-migratory (Ref. 12693), but reported to undertake migrations in the Mekong mainstream (Ref. 37770). From the Khone Falls to the Mekong delta, it migrates upstream during the dry season from October to March and downstream at the onset of the monsoon season from May to July (Ref. 37770). These migrations are reported to be triggered by the receding or rising of the water levels (Ref. 37770). Feeds on crustaceans, insects and small fishes (Ref. 12693). Use to make prahoc (Ref. 12693).

Lycothrissa crocodilus, the sabretooth thryssa, is a species of anchovy which occurs in fresh and brackish water in Southeast Asia. It is the only species in its genus.