Mr. Darwin’s collection contains a single individual of a species of
Clupea from Tierra del Fuego so extremely similar to the young of the
common Herring, that it might almost be mistaken for it. As it is small,
and in not very good preservation, I shall merely point out some of its
leading characters.
Depth of the body the same as in a young _Herring_ of the same size.
Belly carinated, but with the serratures not more developed than in
that species. Teeth the same, and very minute. The maxillary does not
slope inwards quite so much at its upper extremity, before uniting
with the intermaxillary; but the mouth and its several parts are in
all other respects similar. The same may be said of the pieces of the
opercle, excepting that there is a more sensible notch near the upper
part of the posterior margin of the gill-flap, much as in the common
_Sprat_. It differs also from the Herring in having the ventrals
exactly in a line with the commencement of the dorsal, this last being
placed a little further back than in that species.
D. 18; A. 19; C. 19, &c.; P. 18; V. 8.
Length 3 inches.
“Caught at night, off Cape Ines, Tierra del Fuego, two miles from the
shore, in thirteen fathoms.”—D.—The specimen is probably not full-sized,