Dorab wolf-herring

About this species

The dorab wolf-herring is a fish species from the genus Chirocentrus of the family Chirocentridae. It is a coastal fish, silvery below and bright blue above. It is found in both marine and brackish or estuarine waters, where it primarily feeds on smaller fish and possibly crustaceans. The genus name Chirocentrus is from the Greek cheir meaning hand and kentron meaning sting. Dorab is from the Arabic language word darrab (ضرّاب), probably a corrupted form of durubb (دُرُبّ), a name for goldfish in Arabic. It has another Arabic name, lisan (لسان), which means tongue. In Sinhala, it is known as කටුවල්ලා (katuwalla).

Text from the Wikipedia article “Dorab wolf-herring”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 18 records
February: 17 records
March: 7 records
April: 12 records
May: 13 records
June: 22 records
July: 14 records
August: 17 records
September: 22 records
October: 30 records
November: 42 records
December: 35 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 2–56 m · Deepest record: 77 m

0–10 m: 23 records
10–20 m: 17 records
20–30 m: 11 records
30–40 m: 14 records
40–50 m: 7 records
50–60 m: 9 records
60–70 m: 5 records
70–80 m: 2 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 20–30 °C

20–22 °C: 4 records
22–24 °C: 17 records
24–26 °C: 35 records
26–28 °C: 83 records
28–30 °C: 81 records

Photos

(c) Matt Muir, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Matt Muir · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Ewout Knoester, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Ashwin A, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Ashwin A, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) phiroza, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) phiroza, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Ashwit Shetty, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Dorab wolf-herring, Blackfin wolf herring, Dorab, dorab wolf-herring, Dorab wolf herring, Knife-fish, Leaping silver-bar, Ribbon-fish, Sabre fish, Silver bar, Whitefin wolf-herring, wolf herring, Wolf-Herring

Names in 5 more languages

Spanish: arencón dorab, Arenque lobo de la India, Sabre
French: Chirocentre dorab, Poisson-sabre, Sabre
Japanese: Okiiwashi, オキイワシ
Thai: ปลาดาบลาวยาว
Simplified Chinese: 寶刀魚

Other scientific names: Chirocentris dorab, Chirocentrus hypselosoma, Clupea dentex, Clupea dorab, Esox chirocentrus

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
946 open-data records from 1775 to 2021.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.