English Name: Bluestripe herring
Family: CLUPEIDAE
Local Name: Gumbalha
Order: Clupeiformes
Size: Max. 14 cm
Specimen: MRS/0033/86
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15-16 rays. Body depth 3.3-5.5 in standard length. Fusiform and moderately slender body. Belly with a distinct scutes. Top of head with few fronto-parietal striae, a broad wing-like scales almost hidden beneath the overlapping predorsal scales.
Colour: Back bluish green without spots. Flanks silvery with an electric blue line preceded by two orange spots.
Habitat and Biology: In daytime forms dense schools in shallow lagoons. During night time moves into deeper water. Feeds on zooplankton mainly at night.
Distribution: Indo-Pacific.
Remarks: Herklorsichthys quadrirnaculatus forms large daytime schools in shallow lagoons, often in association with schools of Bigeye scad. Previously recorded as Sardenella melanura in the Catalogue of Fishes of the Maldives, Vol. 1, page 52. Sometimes used as livebait in the tuna fishery.