Californian anchovy
Engraulis mordax Girard, 1854
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The Californian anchovy or northern anchovy (Engraulis mordax) is a species of anchovy found in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, ranging from Mexico to British Columbia. It is a small, Clupeoid fish with a large mouth and a long, laterally compressed body, which strongly resembles the European Anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus) with only slight differences in girth and fin position. They have a euryhaline lifestyle defined by regular migrations between bays and open ocean for both spawning and foraging. Like Pacific sardines (Sardinops sagax), they compose a large fraction of the marine biomass in waters off the west coast of North America, where they are a vital keystone species in coastal pelagic waters. However, they are subject to seasonal boom & bust cycles that are chiefly caused by changes in water temperature and food availability; regularly switching places as the forage fish of prominence with the sardine during years defined by colder water temperatures, which makes them vulnerable to climate change.
Wikipedia contributors, Californian anchovy; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:40:48.803445+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Engraulis mordax Girard, 1854
- Name authority
- Girard, 1854
- Common name
- Californian anchovy
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Clupeiformes
- Family
- Engraulidae
- Genus
- Engraulis
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderClupeiformes
- suborderClupeoidei Bleeker, 1859
- familyEngraulidae Gill, 1861
- subfamilyEngraulinae Gill, 1861
- genusEngraulis Cuvier, 1816
- speciesEngraulis mordax Girard, 1854
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Engraulis. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Southern African anchovyEngraulis capensis Gilchrist, 1913 | EngraulidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| European anchovyEngraulis encrasicolus (Linnaeus, 1758) | EngraulidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| silver anchovyEngraulis eurystole (Swain & Meek, 1884) | EngraulidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Argentine anchovyEngraulis anchoita Hubbs & Marini, 1935 | EngraulidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Japanese anchovyEngraulis japonicus Temminck & Schlegel, 1846 | EngraulidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Engraulis maeoticus Pusanov & Zeeb, 1926 | EngraulidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Engraulis australis (White, 1790) | EngraulidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Peruvian anchovyEngraulis ringens Jenyns, 1842 | EngraulidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Engraulus mordax Girard, 1854 Girard, 1854 | synonym |
| Anchoviella mauii Fowler & Bean, 1923 Fowler & Bean, 1923 | synonym |
| Anchovia maui (Fowler & Bean, 1923) (Fowler & Bean, 1923) | synonym |
| Engraulis nanus Girard, 1858 Girard, 1858 | synonym |
| Engraulis mordax mordax Girard, 1854 Girard, 1854 | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- Girard, C. F. (1854). Descriptions of new fishes, collected by Dr. A. L. Heermann, naturalist attached to the survey of the Pacific railroad route, under Lieut. R. S. Williamson, U. S. A. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, v. 7: 129–140. Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:39TMN. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.