Fish in Tamsui Mangrove Estuary

Not only migratory birds congregate in 淡水紅樹林生態保護區Tamsui Mangrove Estuary, fishes as well. The small fish community is dominated by the following 4 (95% of total):

(1) 70.15% Sardinella melanura (鲱科Clupeidae) or black-tailed sardines (Taiwanese: 青鱗仔, 鰮仔,沙丁魚, or 扁仔).

(2) 19.59% Stolephorus buccaneeri (鳀科Engraulidae) or anchovies:

(3) 2.96% Thryssa kammalensis (鳀科Engraulidae) also anchovies:

(4) 2.61% Gerres abbreviatus (水黽科Gerreidae), known locally as 赤翅仔 because of the color of its fins, considered a good catch because of the broad fully-fleshed body:

The remaining 5% contain 101 other species. One of them is of particular interest to amateur fishermen in Tamsui, i.e., Sillago sihama, or 沙梭whitings (only 0.27% of total), most abundant in July or the beginning of the summer vacation, anyone catching this most rare fish is congratulated by his friends:

Source of data: Tzeng WN and Wang YT: Marine Biology 113:481,1992.