Hilsa kelee

Hilsa kelee
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Clupeiformes
Family:	Dorosomatidae
Genus:	Hilsa Regan, 1917
Species:	H. kelee
Binomial name
Hilsa kelee (Cuvier, 1829)
Synonyms
Alausa brachysoma Bleeker, 1853 Alausa kanagurta Bleeker, 1852 Alosa brevis Bleeker, 1848 Alosa malayana Bleeker, 1866 Clupea durbanensis Regan, 1906 Clupea kanagurta (Bleeker, 1852) Clupea kelee Cuvier, 1829 Clupea platygaster Günther, 1868 Clupea sinensis Bloch, 1795 Clupeonia blochii Valenciennes, 1847 Harengula zeylanica Hubrecht, 1879 Hilsa kanagurta (Bleeker, 1852) Macrura brevis (Bleeker, 1848) Macrura kelee (Cuvier, 1829) Tenualosa kelee (Cuvier, 1829)

Hilsa kelee, called the kelee shad, fivespot herring, hilsa, ilish and the razorbelly, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Dorosomatidae, which includes the gizzard shads and sardinellas. This fish is found along the coasts and estuaries of the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific, generally in tropical waters in the Bay of Bengal. It feeds on diatoms and dinoflagellates, and any other small plankton that it can trap in its gillrakers. Some individuals can reach 35 cm, but most are around 16.5 cm. Hilsa kelee is currently considered the only species in the genus Hilsa, although other species have been included in the genus previously.

The species is commercially fished in Bangladesh, with 221,899 t landed in 2000, and 35,483 t landed in 2008.

Hilsa are the national fish of Bangladesh and state fish of West Bengal, and are an important culinary ingredient in Bengali cuisine. Bangladesh exports 70% of the world's supply of the fish. In West Bengal, hilsa are cooked in a special mustard sauce as a delicacy known as Ilish Bhapa, Ilish Polao, and Shorshe Ilish during the Durga Puja festival. This has led to the export of hilsa to be sometimes used as a tool of diplomatic pressure. In September 2024, Bangladesh's interim government led by Muhammad Yunus instated an export ban on hilsa ahead of Durga Puja in what was seen as a diplomatic rebuke for New Delhi's political backing of Sheikh Hasina. Hasina went into exile in India after her removal from power in the end of August 2024 during the 2024 Bangladesh quota reform movement. This ban was not the first. Bangladesh also imposed an export ban on hilsa in 2012 following water-sharing disputes with India, however this ban was lifted in January 2018. Hasina's government made a habit of "gifting" hundreds of tonnes of hilsa as a diplomatic gift ahead of Durga Puja.