South African mullet
South African mullet | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Mugiliformes |
Family: | Mugilidae |
Genus: | Chelon |
Species: | C. richardsonii
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Binomial name | |
Chelon richardsonii (A. Smith, 1846)
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Synonyms[1] | |
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The South African mullet (Chelon richardsonii), also called a harder mullet or simply harder, is a species of mullet. It is found in South African coastal waters from Walvis Bay (Namibia) to KwaZulu-Natal, and grows to a maximum length of 40.5 cm.[2] The person the specific name honours was not recorded by Andrew Smith when he described this species but it is most likely to be John Richardson (1787-1865), the Scottish naturalist, surgeon and Arctic explorer.[3]
It is also found inland in the waters of the Olifants River (Western Cape).[4]
Local delicacy in South Africa[]
Mullet fish caught in the sea and estuaries of the West Coast region are processed by salting and air-drying into bokkoms by small local factories around Velddrif and Laaiplek.
See also[]
- The common name "harder mullet" in Germany refers to the flathead mullet, Mugil cephalus.[5]
- The USS Harder (SS-257), a World War II era naval ship that was named after the fish.
References[]
- ^ Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Mugil richardsonii". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
- ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2006). "Liza richardsonii" in FishBase. May 2006 version.
- ^ Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara (4 June 2018). "Mugiliformes". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
- ^ The Olifants River harder fishery (Lisa richardsoni)
- ^ Harder common name
Categories:
- Mugilidae
- Marine fauna of Southern Africa
- Marine fish of South Africa
- Fish described in 1846
- Ray-finned fish stubs