Bigeye Shad

Body `shad-like'; upper and lower head profiles straight. Gill rakers moderately thick and short, tips pointed, usually shorter than gill filaments. Teeth well developed in both jaws. Resembles A. sphaerocephala, which has a blunter head, with round upper and lower head profiles; A. caspia has more gill rakers (50 to 180) and A. brashnikovi is more slender and `herring-like'.

Potamodromous. Migrating within streams, migratory in rivers, e.g. Saliminus, Moxostoma, Labeo. Migrations should be cyclical and predictable and cover more than 100 km.

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Analspines: 0

Feeds on fish and benthic invertebrates (Ref. 188). Euryhaline and migratory but non-anadromous. One of the most cold-loving Alosa of the Caspian, being one of the first to begin its spring migration to the north.

Euryhaline and migratory but non-anadromous. One of the most cold-loving Alosa of the Caspian (among the first to migrate in spring to the north). Feeds on large crustaceans and small fishes. Spawns in northern Caspian from end of April (peak in mid-May), moving into shallow water and spawning at depths of 1-6 m and salinities of 0.07-11 ppt. The young later move southward; some perhaps remain in the north.

fisheries: minor commercial