Sardine (group overview)

Details

Sardines are small, schooling, oily fishes of the family Clupeidae, notably Sardina pilchardus (European sardine),Sardinops (Pacific sardines) and Sardinella spp. They are key forage fishes renowned formassive shoals, filter‑feeding on plankton and high omega‑3 content, and they support major fisheries worldwide.

Ecology & Biology

• Diet: copepods, cladocerans and phytoplankton filtered by closely spaced gill rakers.

• Behaviour: highly gregarious; perform diel vertical migration (surface by night, deeper by day).

• Reproduction: pelagic broadcast spawners; buoyant eggs/larvae drift before recruiting to coastal nurseries.

Identification

• Form: laterally compressed; weak/absent lateral line; scutes along the belly.

• Colour: bluish‑green dorsum, silvery flanks/belly; some species show lateral spot rows.

• Mouth: small, fine or no teeth; dense gill rakers for plankton capture.

Size & Longevity

• Length: typically 12–25 cm, up to ~30 cm depending on species/region.

• Life: generally 3–7 years, occasionally longer.

Range & Habitat

Temperate to subtropical oceans worldwide—eastern Atlantic & Mediterranean, North Pacific and parts of the Indian Ocean— forming large schools over continental shelves and associated with upwelling/fronts.

Fisheries & Conservation

• Importance: major fisheries for fresh markets, canning and reduction (fishmeal/oil); stocks show large inter‑annual/decadal variability.

• Management: avoid overfishing through science‑based catch limits, seasonal closures/mesh regulations and habitat protection.

IUCN: this is a group‑level entry; statuses differ among species (LC/NT/VU). Marked here as Not Evaluated (NE) for the overview.