Sprattus sprattus, European sprat : fisheries, bait

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Sprattus sprattus (Linnaeus, 1758)

European sprat
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Sprattus sprattus   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Sprattus sprattus (European sprat)
Sprattus sprattus
Picture by Svensen, R.

Russian Federation country information

Common names: Baltic sprat, Baltiiskya kil'ka, Chernomor shprot
Occurrence: native
Salinity: brackish
Abundance: common (usually seen) | Ref: Winkler, H.M., K. Skora, R. Repecka, M. Ploks, A. Neelov, L. Urho, A. Gushin and H. Jespersen, 2000
Importance: commercial | Ref: FAO, 1994
Aquaculture: | Ref:
Regulations: | Ref:
Uses: no uses
Comments: Also Ref. 188.
National Checklist:
Country Information: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/rs.html
National Fisheries Authority:
Occurrences: Occurrences Point map
Main Ref: Reshetnikov, Y.S., N.G. Bogutskaya, E.D. Vasil'eva, E.A. Dorofeeva, A.M. Naseka, O.A. Popova, K.A. Savvaitova, V.G. Sideleva and L.I. Sokolov, 1997
National Database:

Common names from other countries

Sprat, Espadín, Шпрот европейский, ... more

Classification / Names Nombres comunes | Sinónimos | Catalog of Fishes(Género, Especie) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

> Clupeiformes (Herrings) > Clupeidae (Herrings, shads, sardines, menhadens)
Etymology: Sprattus: Old German, sprotte (1611) = a small fish, Clupea sp. (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Linnaeus.

Issue
The subspecies were not characterized well enough, that unless there is more evidence presented in the future, Sprattus sprattus should be considered as one species with several known populations (S.Kullander, pers.comm. 07/09).

Environment: milieu / climate zone / rango de profundidad / distribution range Ecología

marino; salobre pelagic-neritic; oceanodromo (Ref. 51243); rango de profundidad 10 - 150 m (Ref. 6302). Temperate; 69°N - 30°N, 11°W - 42°E

Distribución Países | Áreas FAO | Ecosistemas | Ocurrencias, apariciones | Mapa de puntos | Introducciones | Faunafri

Northeast Atlantic: North Sea and adjacent waters as far north as the Lofoten Area and the west of the British Isles, and Baltic Sea south to Morocco; also in northern Mediterranean (Gulf of Lion and the Adriatic Sea) and Black Sea.

Length at first maturity / Tamaño / Peso / Age

Madurez: Lm 10.1, range 8 - 12 cm
Max length : 16.0 cm SL macho / no sexado; (Ref. 188); common length : 12.0 cm SL macho / no sexado; (Ref. 188); edad máxima reportada: 6 años (Ref. 3561)

Short description Claves de identificación | Morfología | Morfometría

Espinas dorsales (total) : 0; Radios blandos dorsales (total) : 13 - 21; Espinas anales: 0; Radios blandos anales: 12 - 23. Lower jaw slightly projecting, gill cover without any bony radiating striae, teeth rarely present on vomer; belly with a strong keel of scutes; last two anal fin rays not enlarged. No dark spots on flanks. Pterotic bulla absent.
Body shape (shape guide): fusiform / normal; Cross section: compressed.

Biología     Glosario (por ej. epibenthic)

Usually inshore schooling, sometimes entering estuaries (especially the juveniles) and tolerating salinities as low as 4 ppt. Shows strong migrations between winter feeding and summer spawning grounds. Moves to the surface at night. Feeds on planktonic crustaceans (Ref. 9900). Spawns at depths of 10-20 m producing 6,000-14,000 pelagic eggs (Ref. 35388). Some spawn almost throughout the year, mainly in spring and summer, near the coast or up to 100 km out to sea, the young drifting inshore. Sold as 'brislings' to canneries. Sprat are used in the production of fish meal and as mink food, less for human consumption (Ref. 9900). Utilized fresh, smoked, canned and frozen; can be pan-fried and broiled (Ref. 9988).

Life cycle and mating behavior Madurez | Reproducción | Puesta | Huevos | Fecundidad | Larva

Some spawn almost year round but mainly in spring and summer, near to the coast or up to 100 km out to sea, the young drifting inshore. Individual period of spawning takes about two months (Ref. 92054).

Main reference Upload your references | Referencias | Coordinador | Colaboradores

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: 18 July 2018

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Reports of ciguatera poisoning (Ref. 30911)





Human uses

Pesquerías: muy comercial; carnada: usually
FAO - pesquerías: landings, species profile; Publication: search | FIRMS - Stock assessments | FishSource | Sea Around Us

Más información

Ecología Trófica
Food items (preys)
Composición de la dieta
consumo de alimento
Food rations
Despredadores
Ecología
Ecología
Home ranges
Population dynamics
Coeficiente del crecimiento para
Max. ages / sizes
Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
Length-frequencies
Mass conversion
Reclutamiento
Abundancia
Life cycle
Reproducción
Madurez
Maturity/Gills rel.
Fecundidad
Puesta
Spawning aggregations
Huevos
Egg development
Larva
Dinámica larvaria
Distribución
Países
Áreas FAO
Ecosistemas
Ocurrencias, apariciones
Introducciones
BRUVS - Videos
Anatomy
Superficie branquial
Brain
Otolith
Physiology
Body composition
Nutrients
Consumo del oxígeno
Tipo de natación
Velocidad de natación
Visual pigments
Fish sound
Diseases & Parasites
Toxicity (LC50s)
Genética
Genome
Genética
Heterozygosity
heritabilidad
Human related
Aquaculture systems
Perfiles de acuicultura
Razas
Ciguatera cases
Stamps, coins, misc.
Outreach
Colaboradores
Taxonomy
Nombres comunes
Sinónimos
Morfología
Morfometría
Imágenes
Referencias
Referencias

Herramientas

Bio-Quiz | E-book | Guía de campo | Claves de identificación | Asistente para frecuencias de tallas | Herramienta de ciclo de vida | Mapa de puntos | Catch-MSY |

Special reports

Check for Aquarium maintenance | Check for Species Fact Sheets | Check for Aquaculture Fact Sheets

Download XML

Summary page | Datos específicos | Nombres comunes | Photos

Fuentes de Internet

AFORO (otoliths) | Alien/Invasive Species database | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: Género, Especie | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - pesquerías: landings, species profile; Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | Bases de datos nacionales | OneZoom | Open Tree of Life | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | TreeBase | Árbol de la vida | Wikipedia: Go, búsqueda | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Expediente Zoológico

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Referencia 123201): 4.3 - 15.3, mean 9.5 °C (based on 530 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Referencia 82804):  PD50 = 0.5313   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00550 (0.00468 - 0.00646), b=3.10 (3.05 - 3.15), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref. 93245).
Nivel trófico (Referencia 69278):  3.0   ±0.07 se; based on food items.
Generation time: 2.2 (1.7 - 2.6) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 23 growth studies.
Resiliencia (Referencia 120179):  Medio, población duplicada en un tiempo mínimo de 1.4-4.4 años (rm=1.7; K=0.14-0.77; tm=1-2; tmax=6; Fec=2,000 (batch fec)).
Prior r = 0.48, 95% CL = 0.32 - 0.72, Based on 17 full stock assessments.
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Low vulnerability (25 of 100). 🛈
Climate Vulnerability (Ref. 125649):  Low vulnerability (15 of 100). 🛈
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Low.
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 69.8 [34.7, 136.5] mg/100g; Iron = 0.454 [0.171, 1.290] mg/100g; Protein = 19.9 [17.2, 22.6] %; Omega3 = 0.601 [0.328, 1.136] g/100g; Selenium = 8.55 [3.88, 18.40] μg/100g; VitaminA = 66.3 [13.8, 248.5] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.429 [0.200, 1.835] mg/100g (wet weight); based on nutrient studies.