Fish of the Argentina genus of the Argentinidae (herring smelts or argentines) family of the Argentinoidei suborder of the Argentiniformes order of the Protacanthopterygii superorder.
(Argentine. Photo © Ichthyology Database of the Swedish Museum of Natural History. artedi.nrm.se / fishbase.org)
Argentine (Argentina sphyraena) was first described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778).
It is a pelagic schooling species. It inhabits the depths of 50-700 meters. The maximum recorded length is 35.5 cm, specimens about 20 cm long are more common. It feeds on planktonic organisms, mollusks, crustaceans, as well as medium-sized fish.
(Argentine. Photo by © Erling Svensen. fishbase.org)
It is a permanent, but rather rare inhabitant of the Adriatic Sea. It is more common in the southern part of the sea.
Names of Argentine (Argentina sphyraena) in other languages are as follows:
Trofta e detit (Albanian), Zilversmelt (Dutch), Γουρλομάτης (Gourljomátis) (Greek), Caspata (Hebrew), Pez plata (Spanish), Argentina (Italian), Glasauge (German), Argentyna smukła (Polish), Argentina (Portuguese), Европейская аргентина (Evropejskaja argentina) (Russian), Srebrnica, Srebrnjak (Serbian, Croatian), Srebrenka (Slovenian), Derinsu Gümüş balığı (Turkish), Petite argentine (French).