Sprat

Family Clupeidae

REMARKS Maximum length 16 cm. The sprat migrates inshore in winter. It has a very extensive distribution, from Norway to the Black Sea. A distinction is made by many authorities between the Baltic sprat, Sprattus sprattus balticus (G. Schneider) and the sprat of the Atlantic and the northern Mediterranean, Sprattus sprattus sprattus (Linnaeus) or Sprattus sprattus phalericus (Risso). From the point of view of Russian ichthyologists, with their Baltic and Black Sea coastlines and nothing in between, sprats are naturally viewed as being either Baltic or Black Sea. The sub-species phalericus is particularly common in both the Black Sea and the Adriatic. According to the Russian authorities (cf. the work cited under Rass in the Bibliography) it has a lower fat content than its Baltic brother, and a common length of 6 to 13 cm. It is important in the Black Sea as a foodstuff for sturgeon and other larger fish. Black Sea sprats are also fished for human consumption, but with limited success, as they move in fairly small shoals and often at inconvenient depths.