Ken Schultz's Field Guide to Saltwater Fish - Macaw Pets store

Unlike the young of herring, which are often marketed as
sardines, the Pacific sardine is a true sardine. Once one of
the most important commercial fish along the Pacific coast,
the Pacific sardine population has been depleted by pollution
and overfishing. Most commercial fish are canned or
processed to make fish meal, fertilizer, or oil; Pacific sardines
are not marketed fresh.
Identification. The Pacific sardine has an elongated body,
a compressed head, and a small mouth with no teeth. It is
silvery with dark blue on the back, shades of purple and violet
along the sides, and black spots along both the sides and
the back. It can be distinguished from the typical herring by
the absence of a sharp ridge of scales (which is found down
the midline of the belly of a herring) and by vertical ridges
on its gill covers.
Life history/Behavior. In the summer, Pacific sardines
migrate northward from California to British Columbia and
return in the autumn or the winter. They form large schools
of various-size fish. Their eggs are pelagic, and, unlike the
eggs of herring, they float. Individuals generally mature in
their second year.
Food. The Pacific sardine feeds mainly by filtering zooplankton
and phytoplankton.
Sardine, Pacific
Sardinops caeruleus
OTHER NAMES
pilchard, California
pilchard, California
sardine, sardina; Spanish:
pilchard California, sardina
de California, sardina Monterrey.
Distribution. In the eastern
Pacific, Pacific sardines
occur from southeastern
Alaska to Cabo San Lucas,
and throughout the Gulf of
California, Mexico.
Sardine, Pacific 175