| Odontesthes regia | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Teleostei |
| Order: | Atheriniformes |
| Family: | Atherinopsidae |
| Genus: | Odontesthes |
| Species: | O. regia |
| Binomial name | |
| Odontesthes regia (Humboldt, 1821) |
|
Odontesthes regia is a fish belonging to the Atherinopsidae family, commonly referred to as "pejerrey," "pejerrey marino," or, perhaps more internationally, as the "sea silverside."
This is an epipelagic species distributed from the north Pacific coast of Peru to the Aysen region, in Chile (Dyer, 2000). The species has great economic importance as a fresh staple food (Froese & Pauly, 2005). Although the family Atherinopsidae includes 104 species (13 genera), only 17 species have been cytogenetically studied to date, demonstrating that cytogenetic studies in this group are still scarce.[1]