Sprat

Sprat include fish of two genera:

Sprats

• Baltic or Black Sea sprat ( Sprattus sprattus )

Sprat

• Abrauska sprat (Abrauska sprat) ( Clupeonella abrau )
• Anchovy sprat ( Clupeonella engrauliformis )
• Big-eyed sprat ( Clupeonella grimmi )
• Caspian sprat ( Clupeonella delicatula and Clupeonella cultriventris )

Sprat - small fish. On average, they have a length of 10 cm, sometimes they reach a length of 17 cm ^[1] and weigh up to 50 grams .

They live in flocks both in full-salted and desalinated water. Sprat kept near the surface near the shore. Suitable for spawning even closer to the shore. They feed on plankton .

The name of the fish is associated with the presence of spiky scales on its belly forming a keel , which makes the fish more streamlined and less visible from below. They have pelagic caviar . Sprat sweeps from 6 to 14 thousand floating eggs.

Sprat live 3-4 years. Mature in the second year of life.

Sprat is of great commercial value .

It is one of the most important commercial fish in the Baltic (10–20% of all catches), the North and Norwegian seas and, to a lesser extent, in the Mediterranean and Black seas. Sprat mining is carried out by Ukraine, Georgia , Russia , Norway , Denmark , Latvia , Bulgaria , and the republics of the former Yugoslavia . The catch is about 600 thousand tons annually.

Sprat caught purse and fixed seines , different traps.

Sprat is eaten in the form of canned food ( sprat ^[2] , sprats ) or smoked , salted and spicy-salty.

A significant amount of sprat goes to the manufacture of fish meal .

• Sprat feeds on plankton , competing in the Baltic Sea with Baltic herring . Because of this, during those periods when there is a lot of Baltic herring in the Baltic Sea, there are few sprat, and when there are a lot of sprat, there is little sprat.
• In the XIX century off the coast of England, sprat was often harvested in such a mass that it was used to fertilize fields ^[3] .

• Gobies
• Capelin