Engraulis encrasicolus  (Linnaeus, 1758)

European anchovy
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Image of Engraulis encrasicolus (European anchovy)
Engraulis encrasicolus
Picture by Dammous, S.

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) > Clupeiformes (Herrings) > Engraulidae (Anchovies)
Etymology: Engraulis: Greek, eggraulis, -eos = anchovy (Ref. 45335).

Environment / Climate / Range Ecology

Marine; brackish; pelagic-neritic; oceanodromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 0 - 400 m (Ref. 2683).   Subtropical; 62°N - 37°S, 18°W - 42°E (Ref. 54230)

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm 9.7, range 9 - 14 cm
Max length : 20.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 189); common length : 13.5 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 189); max. reported age: 4 years (Ref. 92138)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 16-18; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 13 - 15; Vertebrae: 46 - 47. Snout pointed; maxilla short, tip blunt, reaching almost to front border of pre-operculum, not projecting beyond tip of second supra-maxilla; tip of lower jaw reaching almost to below nostril. Gill rakers present on hind face of third epibranchial. Pseudobranch longer than eye, reaching onto inner face of operculum. A silver stripe along flank, disappearing with age.

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

Eastern Atlantic: Bergen, Norway to East London, South Africa (perhaps reaching Durban) (Ref. 10000). Also all of Mediterranean, Black and Azov seas, with stray individuals in Suez Canal and Gulf of Suez; also recorded from St. Helena (Ref. 189). Reported from Estonia (Ref. 33247).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Mainly a coastal marine species, forming large schools. Tolerates salinities of 5-41 ppt and in some areas, enters lagoons, estuaries and lakes, especially during spawning. Tends to move further north and into surface waters in summer, retreating and descending in winter. Feeds on planktonic organisms. Spawns from April to November with peaks usually in the warmest months. Eggs are ellipsoidal to oval, floating in the upper 50 m and hatching in 24-65 hours. Marketed fresh, dried, smoked, canned and frozen; made into fish meal (Ref. 9987).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Whitehead, P.J.P., G.J. Nelson and T. Wongratana, 1988. 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(7/2):305-579. Rome: FAO.

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 90363)

  Not Evaluated 

Threat to humans

  Harmless




Human uses

Fisheries: highly commercial; bait: usually
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Internet sources

Alien/Invasive Species database | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | DiscoverLife | Faunafri | Fishtrace | GenBank(genome, nucleotide) | GOBASE | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | iSpecies | National databases | PubMed | Scirus | SeaLifeBase | Tree of Life | uBio | Wikipedia(Go, Search) | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates of some properties based on empirical models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82805):  PD50 = 0.5020   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00521 (-0.02268 - 0.03309), b=3.05 (3.03 - 3.07), based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref. 93245).
Trophic Level (Ref. 69278):  3.1   ±0.45 se; Based on food items.
Resilience (Ref. 69278):  Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (K=0.21-1.2; tm=1; tmax=4; Fec = 13,000).
Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Low vulnerability (14 of 100) .
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Medium.