inland silverside

Open encyclopedia reference

The inland silverside (Menidia beryllina) is a neotropical silverside native to eastern North America, and introduced into California. It is a fish of estuaries and freshwater environments. Inland silversides are quite elongate even for silverside, with lengths six to seven times depth. They have large eyes, a considerably upturned mouth, and a head noticeably flattened on top. Of the two widely separated dorsal fins, the anterior fin is small and has four to five weak spines, while the posterior fin is larger, with one spine and eight or nine rays. The lengthy anal fin is somewhat sickle-shaped, has one spine and 16 to 18 rays. As befits the name, they are silvery on the sides; the back is somewhat yellow, and the underside is a translucent green. These are small fish, with 15 cm recorded, but most adults 10 cm or less. They primarily feed on zooplankton, moving in enormous schools capable of depleting populations of the small arthropods and crustaceans they favor. In turn, they are prey for a variety of fish and birds.

Wikipedia contributors, Inland silverside; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T06:39:55.570126+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Menidia beryllina (Cope, 1867)

Name authority

(Cope, 1867)

Common name

inland silverside

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Teleostei

Order

Atheriniformes

Family

Atherinopsidae

Genus

Menidia

Extinction status

Not supplied by this source

Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: yes · 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.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. gigaclassActinopterygii
8. superclassActinopteri
9. classTeleostei
10. orderAtheriniformes
11. suborderAtherinopsoidei
12. familyAtherinopsidae Fitzinger, 1873
13. subfamilyMenidiinae Schultz, 1948
14. genusMenidia Bonaparte, 1836
15. speciesMenidia beryllina (Cope, 1867)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Menidia. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 104 records assigned to Atherinopsidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

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.

1. https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=159227 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:3ZQKX. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.