Mediterranean sand smelt
Atherina hepsetus Linnaeus, 1758
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.
Southern Sand Smelt (Atherina hepsetus) in France
Julien Renoult · CC BY 4.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The Mediterranean sand smelt, Atherina hepsetus, is a species of fish in the family Atherinidae that inhabits the littoral zone of the east Atlantic, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.
Wikipedia contributors, Mediterranean sand smelt; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T11:00:42.541631+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Atherina hepsetus Linnaeus, 1758
- Name authority
- Linnaeus, 1758
- Common name
- Mediterranean sand smelt
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Atheriniformes
- Family
- Atherinidae
- Genus
- Atherina
- 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.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderAtheriniformes
- suborderAtherinoidei
- familyAtherinidae Risso, 1827
- genusAtherina Linnaeus, 1758
- speciesAtherina hepsetus Linnaeus, 1758
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Atherina. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Atherina caspia Eichwald, 1831 | AtherinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Atherina lopeziana Rossignol & Blache, 1961 | AtherinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Atherina harringtonensis Goode, 1877 | AtherinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| sand smeltAtherina presbyter Cuvier, 1829 | AtherinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Atherina breviceps Valenciennes, 1835 | AtherinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| big-scale sand smeltAtherina boyeri Risso, 1810 | AtherinidaeChordata | 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 |
|---|---|
| Atherina athaerina Nardo, 1827 Nardo, 1827 | synonym |
| Atherina (Atherina) hepsetus Linnaeus, 1758 Linnaeus, 1758 | 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.
- Linnaeus, C. (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata. Laurentii Salvii. Holmiae [Stockholm]. [iii] + 824 pp. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.542 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.
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:688Y5. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.