Portugal country information

Common names: Enchovagem, Espadilha, Espadilha fumada
Occurrence: native
Salinity: brackish
Abundance: | Ref:
Importance: | Ref:
Aquaculture: | Ref:
Regulations: | Ref:
Uses: no uses
Comments: Found in Tagus estuary (Ref. 51031). Also in Ref. 188.
National Checklist: Portugal
Country Information: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/po.html
National Fisheries Authority:
Occurrences: Occurrences Point map
Main Ref: Martins, R. and M. Carneiro, 2018
National Database: Portuguese Freshwater Fishes

Common names from other countries

Sprat, Espadín, Шпрот европейский, ... more

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

Teleostei (teleosts) > 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 / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; brackish; pelagic-neritic; oceanodromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 10 - 150 m (Ref. 6302). Temperate; 69°N - 30°N, 11°W - 42°E

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | 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 / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: L_m 10.1, range 8 - 12 cm
Max length : 16.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 188); common length : 12.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 188); max. reported age: 6 years (Ref. 3561)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 13 - 21; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 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.

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 Maturities | Reproduction | Spawnings | Egg(s) | Fecundities | Larvae

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 | 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)

Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 18 July 2018

CITES (Ref. 128078)

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Reports of ciguatera poisoning (Ref. 30911)

Human uses

Fisheries: highly commercial; bait: usually

FAO(Fisheries: production, species profile; publication : search) | FIRMS (Stock assessments) | FishSource | Sea Around Us

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Internet sources

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 115969): 4.3 - 15.3, mean 9.5 (based on 530 cells).

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804): PD₅₀ = 0.5312 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].

Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00575 (0.00491 - 0.00675), b=3.09 (3.04 - 3.14), in cm Total Length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref. 93245).

Trophic level (Ref. 69278): 3.0 ±0.07 se; based on food items.

Resilience (Ref. 120179): Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (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.

Sprattus sprattus (Linnaeus, 1758)