Sardina pilchardus, European pilchard : fisheries

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Sardina pilchardus (Walbaum, 1792)

European pilchard
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Sardina pilchardus   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Sardina pilchardus (European pilchard)
Sardina pilchardus
Picture by De Sanctis, A.

Italy country information

Common names: Bianchetto, Cicinnelli jaculilli, Faloppe
Occurrence: native
Salinity: marine
Abundance: | Ref:
Importance: commercial | Ref: FAO, 1994
Aquaculture: | Ref:
Regulations: | Ref:
Uses: no uses
Comments: Recorded from the Gulf of Patti and Gulf of Sciacca (Ref. 95696).
National Checklist:
Country Information: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/it.html
National Fisheries Authority:
Occurrences: Occurrences Point map
Main Ref: Whitehead, P.J.P., 1985
National Database: ICTIMED

Common names from other countries

Sardine commune, Sardina europea, سردين أوروبا, ... more

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Clupeiformes (Herrings) > Alosidae (Shads and Sardines)
Etymology: Sardina: Latin and Greek, sarda = sardine; name related to the island of Sardinia (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Walbaum.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; freshwater; brackish; pelagic-neritic; oceanodromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 10 - 100 m (Ref. 5286), usually 25 - 100 m (Ref. 54866). Subtropical; 68°N - 14°N, 32°W - 43°E (Ref. 54866)

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Northeast Atlantic: Iceland (rare) and North Sea, southward to Bay de Gorée, Senegal. Mediterranean (common in the western part and in Adriatic Sea, rare in the eastern part), Sea of Marmara and Black Sea.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm 14.8  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 27.5 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 74552); common length : 20.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 188); max. reported age: 15 years (Ref. 35388)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 13 - 21; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 12 - 23. Body sub-cylindrical, belly rather rounded (but more compressed in juveniles). Hind margin of gill opening smoothly rounded (without fleshy outgrowths) ; 3 to 5 distinct body striae radiating downward on lower part of operculum; lower gill rakers not becoming shorter at angle of first gill arch, the upper series not overlapping the lower. Last 2 anal fin rays enlarged.
Body shape (shape guide): fusiform / normal; Cross section: compressed.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Littoral species (Ref. 6808). Form schools, usually at depths of 25 to 55 or even 100 m by day, rising to 10 to 35 m at night. Feed mainly on planktonic crustaceans, also on larger organisms. Spawn in batches (Ref. 51846), in the open sea or near the coast, producing 50,000-60,000 eggs with a mean diameter of 1.5 mm (Ref. 35388). Marketed fresh, frozen or canned. Also utilized dried or salted and smoked; can be pan-fried, broiled and microwaved (Ref. 9988).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Breeds at 20 to 25 m, near the shore or as much as 100 km out to sea.

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Whitehead, P.J.P., 1985. FAO Species Catalogue. Vol. 7. Clupeoid fishes of the world (suborder Clupeoidei). An annotated and illustrated catalogue of the herrings, sardines, pilchards, sprats, shads, anchovies and wolf-herrings. FAO Fish. Synop. 125(7/1):1-303. Rome: FAO. (Ref. 188)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2025-1)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 20 May 2013

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: highly commercial
FAO - Fisheries: landings, species profile; Publication: search | FIRMS - Stock assessments | FishSource | Sea Around Us

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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | DORIS | ECOTOX | FAO - Fisheries: landings, species profile; Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | National databases | OneZoom | Open Tree of Life | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | Public aquariums | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | TreeBase | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 7.1 - 17.3, mean 10.3 °C (based on 553 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 1.0000   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00631 (0.00554 - 0.00719), b=3.08 (3.04 - 3.12), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  3.1   ±0.1 se; based on diet studies.
Generation time: 3.0 (2.7 - 3.2) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 58 growth studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (K=0.23-0.5; tm=1-2; tmax=15).
Prior r = 0.63, 95% CL = 0.41 - 0.94, Based on 26 full stock assessments.
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Low to moderate vulnerability (30 of 100). 🛈
Climate Vulnerability (Ref. 125649):  Low vulnerability (22 of 100). 🛈
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Low.
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 162 [75, 357] mg/100g; Iron = 2.61 [1.10, 5.76] mg/100g; Protein = 19.8 [18.6, 21.0] %; Omega3 = 1.07 [0.55, 2.10] g/100g; Selenium = 35.9 [18.2, 74.0] μg/100g; VitaminA = 14.5 [4.5, 48.3] μg/100g; Zinc = 1.42 [1.02, 2.25] mg/100g (wet weight); based on nutrient studies.