Author: (Nordmann, 1840)
FBname: Black and Caspian Sea sprat
Comments: Essentially a brackish water species but tolerating salinities up to 34 ppt and with semi-anadromous and purely freshwater forms in rivers and lakes.  Forms schools.  Migratory between winter or autumn feeding and summer spawning grounds.  Feeds on zooplankton (Ref. 188); crustaceans such as copepods and cladocerans (Ref. 59043).  Breeds in early summer in the Sea of Azov with a peak in May, and from about May in the lower reaches of rivers (e.g. Dneiper and Dneister) (Ref. 188). Eggs are pelagic (Ref. 59043). 