The herring smelts or argentines are a family, Argentinidae, of osmeriform fishes. They are similar in appearance to smelts (family Osmeridae) but have much smaller mouths.

They are found in oceans throughout the world. They are small fishes, growing up to 25 cm long, excepting the Greater argentine

Greater argentine

Argentina Silus is also known as Atlantic Argentine, Great Silver Smelt, Greater Argentine, Herring Smelt or simply Smelt. It is a northern Atlantic smelt in the family Argentinidae, or herring-smelts. It is also used as seafood....

, Argentina silus, which reaches 70 cm.

They form large schools close to the sea floor and feed on plankton

Plankton

Plankton are any drifting organisms that inhabit the pelagic zone of oceans, seas, or bodies of fresh water. That is, plankton are defined by their ecological niche rather than phylogenetic or taxonomic classification...

, especially krill

Krill

Krill is the common name given to the order Euphausiacea of shrimp-like marine crustaceans. Also known as euphausiids, these small invertebrates are found in all oceans of the world...

, amphipods, small cephalopod

Cephalopod

A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan class Cephalopoda . These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral body symmetry, a prominent head, and a set of arms or tentacles modified from the primitive molluscan foot...

s, chaetognaths and ctenophore

Ctenophore

The Ctenophora are a phylum of animals that live in marine waters worldwide. Their most distinctive feature is the "combs", groups of cilia that they use for swimming, and they are the largest animals that swim by means of cilia – adults of various species range from a few millimeters to in size...

s.

Several species are fished commercially and processed into fish meal

Fish meal

Fish meal, or fishmeal, is a commercial product made from both whole fish and the bones and offal from processed fish. It is a brown powder or cake obtained by rendering pressing the cooked whole fish or fish trimmings to remove most of the fish oil and water, and then ground...

.

Species

There are 25 species in two genera:

• Genus Argentina
  • Alice argentina, Argentina aliceae Cohen & Atsaides, 1969.
  • Argentina australiae Cohen, 1958.
  • Bruce's argentine, Argentina brucei Cohen & Atsaides, 1969.
  • Argentina elongata
    Argentina elongata
    Argentina elongata is a herring smelt of the family Argentinidae, found around southern Australia, and New Zealand, at depths of between . Its length is up to 25 cm.-References:...
    
    Hutton, 1879.
  • Argentina euchus Cohen, 1961.
  • Argentina georgei
    Argentina georgei
    Argentina georgei is a species of fish in the Argentinidae family.-References:*Kent E. Carpenter, The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Atlantic, Volume 2 Bony fishes part 1 , ISSN 1020-6868....
    
    Cohen & Atsaides, 1969.
  • Argentina kagoshimae Jordan
    David Starr Jordan
    David Starr Jordan, Ph.D., LL.D. was a leading eugenicist, ichthyologist, educator and peace activist. He was president of Indiana University and Stanford University.-Early life and education:...
    
     & Snyder, 1902.
  • North-Pacific argentine, Argentina sialis Gilbert, 1890.
  • Greater argentine
    Greater argentine
    Argentina Silus is also known as Atlantic Argentine, Great Silver Smelt, Greater Argentine, Herring Smelt or simply Smelt. It is a northern Atlantic smelt in the family Argentinidae, or herring-smelts. It is also used as seafood....
    
    , Argentina silus (Ascanius, 1775).
  • Argentina sphyraena Linnaeus
    Carolus Linnaeus
    Carl Linnaeus , also known after his ennoblement as , was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology...
    
    , 1758.
  • Argentina stewarti Cohen & Atsaides, 1969.
  • Striated argentine, Argentina striata
    Argentina striata
    Argentina striata is a species of fish in the Argentinidae family.-References:*Gareth J. Nelson, Gill arches of some Teleostean fishes of the families Salangidae and Argentinidae, Japanese Journal of Ichthyology, Vol. 17, No. 2, 1970....
    
    Goode
    George Brown Goode
    George Brown Goode , was an ichthyologist, although most of his time was spent as a museum administrator and he was very interested in the history of science, especially the history of the development of science in America. Goode graduated from Wesleyan University and studied at Harvard University...
    
     & Bean
    Tarleton Hoffman Bean
    Tarleton Hoffman Bean was an American ichthyologist, born at Bainbridge, Pennsylvania on 8 October 1846. He died in Albany, New York on 28 December 1916.-FAMILY AND EDUCATION :...
    
    , 1896.
• Genus Glossanodon
  • Glossanodon australis Kobyliansky, 1998.
  • Glossanodon danieli Parin & Shcherbachev, 1982.
  • Glossanodon elongatus (Hutton, 1879).
  • Small-toothed argentine, Glossanodon leioglossus (Valenciennes
    Achille Valenciennes
    Achille Valenciennes was a French zoologist.Valenciennes was born in Paris, and studied under Georges Cuvier. Valenciennes' study of parasitic worms in humans made an important contribution to the study of parasitology...
    
    , 1848).
  • Glossanodon lineatus (Matsubara, 1943).
  • Glossanodon melanomanus Kobyliansky, 1998.
  • Glossanodon mildredae Cohen & Atsaides, 1969.
  • Glossanodon nazca Parin & Shcherbachev, 1982.
  • Glossanodon polli Cohen, 1958.
  • Glossanodon pseudolineatus Kobyliansky, 1998.
  • Pygmy argentine, Glossanodon pygmaeus Cohen, 1958.
  • Glossanodon semifasciatus (Kishinouye, 1904).
  • Struhsaker's deep-sea smelt, Glossanodon struhsakeri Cohen, 1970.