Sardine Fish

Sardine Fish, any of certain food fishes of the herring family, Clupeidae, especially members of the  genera Sardina, Sardinops, and Sardinella; the name sardine can also refer to the common herring (Clupea harengus) and to other small herrings or herringlike fishes when canned in oil. The European sardine (Sardina, or Clupea pilchardus)—known as pilchard in Britain—occurs in the Mediterranean Sea and off the Atlantic coasts of Spain, Portugal, France, and Britain. Clupea harengus is found throughout the North Atlantic, including coastal North America. The five recognized species of the genus Sardinops are so similar that they are sometimes classified as the single species S. sagax. The five species are found in different areas of the Pacific and Indian oceans and are fished off of western North and South America, Japan, Australia, and South Africa.

Sardine and pilchard / Sardine Fish are common names for various species of small, oily forage fish in the herring family Clupeidae. The term sardine was first used in English during the early 15th century; a somewhat dubious folk etymology says it comes from the Italian island of Sardinia, around which sardines were once supposedly abundant.

The terms sardine and pilchard are not precise, and what is meant depends on the region. The United Kingdom‘s Sea Fish Industry Authority, for example, classifies sardines as young pilchards. One criterion suggests fish shorter in length than 15 cm (6 in) are sardines, and larger fish are pilchards.

The FAO/WHO Codex standard for canned sardines cites 21 species that may be classed as sardines. FishBase, a comprehensive database of information about fish, calls at least six species pilchards, over a dozen just sardines, and many more with the two basic names qualified by various adjectives.

Commercially significant species
Genus	Common name	Scientific name	Max. length		Typ. length		Max. mass		Max. age years	Trophic level	Fish- Base	FAO	ITIS	IUCN status
			cm	in	cm	in	g	oz
Sardina	European pilchard	Sardina pilchardus (Walbaum, 1792)	27.5	10.8	20.0	7.9			15	3.05	[18]	[19]	[20]	[21]
Sardinops	South American pilchard	Sardinops sagax (Jenyns, 1842)	39.5	15.6	20.0	7.9	490	17	25	2.43	[22]	[23]	[24]	[25]
	Japanese pilchard[note 1]	Sardinops melanostictus (Schlegel, 1846)									[27]	[28]	[29]	NE
	Californian pilchard[note 1]	Sardinops caeruleus (Girard, 1854)									[30]	[31]	[32]	NE
	southern African pilchard[note 1]	Sardinops ocellatus (Pappe, 1854)									[33]	[34]	[35]	NE
Sardinella	Bali sardinella	Sardinella lemuru (Bleeker, 1853)	23	9.1	20	7.9					[36]	[37]	[38]	[39]
	Brazilian sardinella	Sardinella brasiliensis (Steindachner, 1879)								3.10	[40]	[41]	[42]	[43]
	Japanese sardinella	Sardinella zunasi (Bleeker, 1854)								3.12	[44]	[45]	[46]	[47]
	Indian oil sardine	Sardinella longiceps (Valenciennes, 1847)								2.41	[48]	[49]	[50]	[51]
	Goldstripe sardinella	Sardinella gibbosa (Bleeker, 1849)								2.85	[52]	[53]	[54]	[55]
	Round sardinella	Sardinella aurita (Valenciennes, 1847)								3.40	[56]	[57]	[58]	[59]
	Madeiran sardinella	Sardinella maderensis (Lowe, 1839)								3.20	[60]	[61]	[62]	[63]
	Marquesan sardinella	Sardinella marquesensis (Berry & Whitehead, 1968)	16	6.3	10	3.9				2.90	[64]
Dussumieria	Rainbow sardine	Dussumieria acuta (Valenciennes, 1847)			20	7.9				3.40	[65]	[66]	[67]	[68]