Ammodytes americanus

Like all sand lances, it has a long, thin body with a pointed snout. The coloration of the body is overall greenish silver, with a muted brownish-green dorsal side transitioning to white sides and stomach, a camouflage known as countershading. The visible lateral line splits this color transition as it travels down the body, ending at the caudal peduncle. The operculum is silvery white, matching the stomach. Its eyes are silvery, with a dark pupil. The fins are pale brown and difficult to spot when viewing the fish. When observing the fish swimming, A. americanus has a sinusoidal swimming motion, creating an “eellike” movement. The swaying undulations start at the head and move down the body. This anguilliform body shape is conducive to eluding prey through being highly mobile and able to shimmy away on the benthic floor. == Geographic Distribution and Habitat ==

A. americanus has been found from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, to Labrador in the Northwest Atlantic (NWA) region. Historically, the fish has been found in bays, estuaries, and shallow coastal waters in less than two meters of water. For A. americanus to be in a suitable habitat, there must be a course substrate available for them to burrow into. Substrates that attract the fish incorporate clean grains of sand or gravel, as well as crushed shell. This choice could be due to larger grains being easier to move through as well as the substrate being capable of holding more dissolved oxygen. == Biology ==

Life History During spawning, A. americanus females lost up to 45% of their body weight. The appearance of an egg is opaque, with the size measuring between an average of 0.05-1mm. Gonads in females tend to be more developed than male gonads in December. Counting otolith rings is a good indicator of how old this species is. A. americanus, like other Ammodytes species, mature within the first year after hatching. Male A. americanus mature at a smaller size than females, at around 85mm, as opposed to females maturing at around 90cm. Ammodytes species have a preference for copepods, making the sand lance a plankton feeder. Behavior The schools that A. americanus form range in individuals from one hundred to many thousand, relatively small for schools of fish. The schools are visually vertically compressed and tightly condensed, with the average distance between two individuals being ½-¾ of a body length. The size of one school measured in Provincetown slope was 1-5 meters wide, 0.5-1.5 meters tall, and 3-20 meters long. Schools swim at a speed of around 30-50 cm/s. This type of school is a stratified school. When preyed upon, the school will split or accelerate to one side to avoid whatever they deem as a predator. Comparisons In the Northwestern Atlantic, there are two Ammodytes species. The American sand lance, Ammodytes americanus, is the inshore species, residing closer to the coast in shallower waters. The Northern sand lance, Ammodytes dubius, lives offshore in colder and deeper waters. == Conservation ==

Ammodytes in the NWA area have been marked as moderately vulnerable to climate change when compared to other marine animals in the region. Due to climate change, the NWA region is undergoing warming. This puts many native species at risk, including A. americanus. When the ocean temperature is higher than in previous years, the timing of spawning and other important life events can become off. While there are no fisheries targeting the A. americanus, they are affected by fisheries, being swept up as catch in some Northeastern fisheries. Due to regulations put in by the Mid-Atlantic and New England Fishery Management Councils, commercial fishing of A. americanus is restricted to 1,700 lbs. The sand lances in the NWA are prey to many other species, being known as forage fish. Marine mammals, birds, and fish all consume NWA Ammodytes. On record, there have been 45 fish species that have been found with Ammodytes in their stomach contents in the NWA region. Some notable species include the alewife, Atlantic cod, haddock, and longhorn sculpin. Many members of the Charadriiformes family, the shorebirds and pelagic birds, consume Ammodytes. Many species feed Ammodytes to their babies, including a few tern species and Atlantic puffins. Roseate terns, common terns, and razorbills had a stronger connection to the fish, with much of their diet consisting of Ammodytes. The importance of the American Sand Lances is due in part to some seabird species of concern that eat the forage fish. One bird in particular, the roseate tern, nests in very few areas, meaning the risk of extinction is high. The Ammodytes being a part of their main diet means that Ammodytes become a species of importance to monitor as well, even if populations aren’t declining. ==References==