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Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) > Clupeiformes (Herrings) > Clupeidae (Herrings, shads, sardines, menhadens) > Dorosomatinae
Etymology: Sardinella: Latin and Greek, sarda = sardine; name related to the island of Sardinia; diminutive (Ref. 45335).

Environment / Climate / Range Ecology

Marine; brackish; pelagic-neritic; oceanodromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 0 - 80 m (Ref. 27000). Subtropical; 24°C - ? (Ref. 54872), preferred 24°C (Ref. 107945); 46°N - 23°S, 17°W - 36°E (Ref. 54872)

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

Atlantic Ocean: eastern Atlantic Ocean from Gibraltar southward to Angola, with a single specimen reported from Walvis Bay, Namibia (Ref. 188, 81269). Also known from Mediterranean Sea in the southern and eastern parts, penetrating also the Suez Canal (Ref. 188).

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: L_m 13.4, range 11 - 19.5 cm
Max length : 30.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 188); common length : 25.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 188); max. published weight: 927.00 g (Ref. 3808)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 18-21; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 17 - 23. Diagnosis: Body elongate, but variable in depth, belly fairly sharply keeled; total scutes 31-34 (Ref. 188, 81269). Lower gillrakers 70-166 (Ref. 188, 81269). Upper pectoral fin rays white on outer side, the membrane between black (Ref. 188). Sardinella maderensis resembles S. aurita, but pelvic fin with 1 unbranched and 7 branched rays and no black spot on hind part of gill cover, but a faint gold or black area just behind gill opening (Ref. 188). It is distinguished from S. rouxi by having more lower gillrakers, only 30-40 in S. rouxi, and the caudal fin grey, its tips almost black vs. yellow in S. rouxi (Ref. 188).

Forms schools in coastal waters, preferring waters of 24°C. Feeds on a variety of small planktonic invertebrates, fish larvae and phytoplankton. Breeds during the warm season (July-September). Juveniles and adults show clear north-south migrations in the Gabon-Congo-Angola sector of their range and also in the Sierra Leone-Mauritania sector, each area having nurseries. The movements are correlated with the seasonal upwelling. Marketed fresh, frozen or salted.

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

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Whitehead, P.J.P., 1985. FAO Species Catalogue. Vol. 7. Clupeoid fishes of the world (suborder Clupeioidei). 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. 115185)

Vulnerable (VU) (A2d)

CITES (Ref. 94142)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Harmless

Human uses

Fisheries: highly commercial; bait: usually

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Estimates of some properties based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82805): PD₅₀ = 0.5000 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].

Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00851 (0.00687 - 0.01055), b=3.02 (2.98 - 3.06), in cm Total Length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref. 93245).

Trophic Level (Ref. 69278): 3.2 ±0.38 se; Based on food items.

Resilience (Ref. 69278): Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (K=0.34; tm=3; tmax=6).

Prior r = 0.82, 2 SD range = 0.42 - 1.59, log(r) = -0.2, SD log(r) = 0.33, Based on: 1 M, 11 K, 1 tgen, records

Vulnerability (Ref. 59153): Low to moderate vulnerability (33 of 100) .

Price category (Ref. 80766): Medium.

Sardinella maderensis (Lowe, 1838)