Sardine and pilchard are common names for various species of small, oily forage fish in the herring suborder Clupeoidei. The term "sardine" was first used in English during the early 15th century; a somewhat dubious 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 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 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.
Etymology
The word sardine first appeared in English in the 15th century, a loanword from French , derived from Latin , from Ancient Greek (sardínē) or (sardĩnos), possibly from the Greek (Sardō) 'Sardinia'. Athenaios quotes a fragmentary passage from Aristotle mentioning the fish (sardĩnos), referring to the sardine or pilchard. However, Sardinia is over 1000 km from Athens, so it seems "hardly probable that the Greeks would have obtained fish from so far as Sardinia at a time relatively so early as that of Aristotle", although the Myceneans traded with the Sardinians during the latter Bronze Age.
The flesh of some sardines or pilchards is a reddish-brown colour similar to some varieties of red sardonyx or sardine stone; this word derives from (sardĩon) with a root meaning 'red' and possibly cognate with Sardis, the capital of ancient Lydia (now western Turkey) where it was obtained. However, the name may refer to the reddish-pink colour of the gemstone sard (or carnelian) known to the ancients.
Genera
Sardines occur in several genera.
- Genus Dussumieria
- Rainbow sardine (Dussumieria acuta)
- Slender rainbow sardine (Dussumieria elopsoides)
- Genus Escualosa
- Slender white sardine (Escualosa elongata)
- White sardine (Escualosa thoracata)
- Genus Sardina
- European pilchard (true sardine) (Sardina pilchardus)
- Genus Sardinella
25 species
- Genus Sardinops
- Japanese pilchard (Sardinops melanosticta)
- Southern African pilchard (Sardinops ocellatus)
- South American pilchard (Sardinops sagax)
Although they are not true sardines, sprats are sometimes marketed as sardines. For example, the European sprat, Sprattus sprattus, is sometimes marketed as the 'brisling sardine'.
Species
{| class="wikitable collapsible"
! colspan="15" |Commercially significant species
|-
! scope="col" rowspan=2 |Genus
! scope="col" rowspan=2 |Common name
! scope="col" rowspan=2 |Scientific name
! scope="col" colspan=2 |Max. length
! scope="col" colspan=2 |Typ. length
! scope="col" colspan=2 |Max. mass
! scope="col" rowspan=2 |Max. age<br /> years
! scope="col" rowspan=2 |Trophic<br />level
! scope="col" rowspan=2 |Fish-<br />Base
! scope="col" rowspan=2 |FAO
! scope="col" rowspan=2 |ITIS
! scope="col" rowspan=2 |IUCN<br />status
|-
! cm
! in
! cm
! in
! g
! oz
|-
| Sardina
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" |European pilchard
| Sardina pilchardus <small>(Walbaum, 1792)</small>
|
|
| colspan=2 |
| style="text-align:right;" |15
| style="text-align:center;" |3.05
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |link=Least Concern|alt=Least Concern<br />
|-
| rowspan=4 |Sardinops
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" |South American pilchard
| Sardinops sagax <small>(Jenyns, 1842)</small>
|
|
|
| style="text-align:right;" |25
| style="text-align:center;" |2.43
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |link=Least Concern|alt=Least Concern<br />
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left; background: #efe; padding-left: 1.5em;" |Japanese pilchard
| style="background: #efe; padding-left: 1.5em;" |Sardinops melanostictus <small>(Schlegel, 1846)</small>
| style=background:#efe; colspan=2 |
| style=background:#efe; colspan=2 |
| style=background:#efe; colspan=2 |
| style="background:#efe; text-align:right;" |
| style="background:#efe; text-align:center;" |
| style="background:#efe; text-align:center;" |
| style="background:#efe; text-align:center;" |
| style="background:#efe; text-align:center;" |
| style="background:#efe; text-align:center;" |<div style="border: 3px solid black; background: white; width: 2em; border-radius:5em; margin: 0.25em auto;">NE</div>
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left; background: #efe; padding-left: 1.5em;" |Californian pilchard
| style="background:#efe; text-align:center;" |
| style="background:#efe; text-align:center;" |
| style="background:#efe; text-align:center;" |<div style="border: 3px solid black; background: white; width: 2em; border-radius:5em; margin: 0.25em auto;">NE</div>
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left; background: #efe; padding-left: 1.5em;" |southern African pilchard
| style="background:#efe; text-align:center;" |
| style="background:#efe; text-align:center;" |
| style="background:#efe; text-align:center;" |<div style="border: 3px solid black; background: white; width: 2em; border-radius:5em; margin: 0.25em auto;">NE</div>
|-
| rowspan="8" |Sardinella
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" |Bali sardinella
| Sardinella lemuru <small>(Bleeker, 1853)</small>
|
|
| colspan=2 |
| style="text-align:right;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |link=Near Threatened|alt=Near Threatened<br />
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" |Brazilian sardinella
| Sardinella brasiliensis <small>(Steindachner, 1879)</small>
| colspan=2 |
| colspan=2 |
| colspan=2 |
| style="text-align:right;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |3.10
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |link=Data Deficient|alt=Data Deficient<br />
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" |Japanese sardinella
| Sardinella zunasi <small>(Bleeker, 1854)</small>
| colspan=2 |
| colspan=2 |
| colspan=2 |
| style="text-align:right;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |3.12
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |link=Least Concern|alt=Least Concern<br />
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" |Indian oil sardine
| Sardinella longiceps <small>(Valenciennes, 1847)</small>
| colspan=2 |
| colspan=2 |
| colspan=2 |
| style="text-align:right;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |2.41
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |link=Least Concern|alt=Least Concern<br />
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" |Goldstripe sardinella
| Sardinella gibbosa <small>(Bleeker, 1849)</small>
| colspan=2 |
| colspan=2 |
| colspan=2 |
| style="text-align:right;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |2.85
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |link=Least Concern|alt=Least Concern<br />
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" |Round sardinella
| Sardinella aurita <small>(Valenciennes, 1847)</small>
| colspan=2 |
| colspan=2 |
| colspan=2 |
| style="text-align:right;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |3.40
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |link=Least Concern|alt=Least Concern<br />
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" |Madeiran sardinella
| Sardinella maderensis <small>(Lowe, 1839)</small>
| colspan=2 |
| colspan=2 |
| colspan=2 |
| style="text-align:right;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |3.20
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |link=Vulnerable species|alt=Vulnerable<br />
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" |Marquesan sardinella
| Sardinella marquesensis <small>(Berry & Whitehead, 1968)</small>
|
|
| colspan=2 |
| style="text-align:right;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |2.90
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |link=Least Concern|alt=Least Concern
|-
| Dussumieria
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" |Rainbow sardine
| Dussumieria acuta <small>(Valenciennes, 1847)</small>
| colspan=2 |
|
| colspan=2 |
| style="text-align:right;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |3.40
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |link=Least Concern|alt=Least Concern<br />
|}
<gallery mode="packed" heights="80px">
File:Sardina pilchardus Gervais.jpg| The European pilchard, Sardina pilchardus
File:Sardinops sagax.jpg| In the 1980s the South American pilchard, Sardinops sagax, was the most intensively fished species of sardine. Some major stocks declined precipitously in the 1990s (see chart below).
File:Sardinops sagax caerulea.png| The Pacific sardine, Sardinops sagax caerulea
</gallery>
Feeding
Sardines feed almost exclusively on zooplankton and congregate wherever this is abundant.