''Amblygaster sirm'', the spotted sardinella, also known as the northern pilchard, spotted pilchard, spotted sardine, and trenched sardine, is a reef-associated marine species of

sardinella ''Sardinella'' is a genus of fish in the family Clupeidae found in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Ocean. They are abundant in warmer waters of the tropical and subtropical oceans. Adults are generally coastal, schooling, marine fish but juv ...

s in the herring family

Clupeidae Clupeidae is a family of ray-finned fishes, comprising, for instance, the herrings, shads, sardines, hilsa, and menhadens. The clupeoids include many of the most important food fishes in the world, and are also commonly caught for production ...

. It is one of the three species of genus ''

Amblygaster ''Amblygaster'' is a small genus of sardinellas in the herring family Clupeidae. It currently contains three species. Species * '' Amblygaster clupeoides'' Bleeker, 1849 (Bleeker's smoothbelly sardinella) * '' Amblygaster leiogaster'' (Valenci ...

''. It is found in the marine waters along Indo-West Pacific regions from

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Mala ...

to the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, and towards north

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northe ...

and Japan to the far east of Australia and Fiji. It is a widely captured commercial fish in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

, where the fish is known as "Hurulla" in Sinhala language. The fish has 13 to 21 dorsal soft rays and 12 to 23 anal soft rays. It grows up to a maximum length of 27 cm (10.6 in). The distinctive feature of spotted sardinella from other two relatives is the presence of 10 to 20 golden spots along the flank. The color of spots may change into black after preservation. Belly is less rounded and scutes are not prominent. The fish feeds on minute organisms like

copepod Copepods (; meaning "oar-feet") are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat. Some species are planktonic (inhabiting sea waters), some are benthic (living on the ocean floor), a number of species have p ...

s, larval

bivalve Bivalvia (), in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of marine and freshwater molluscs that have laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hinged parts. As a group, biv ...

s and aquatic gastropods, and

dinoflagellates The dinoflagellates ( Greek δῖνος ''dinos'' "whirling" and Latin ''flagellum'' "whip, scourge") are a monophyletic group of single-celled eukaryotes constituting the phylum Dinoflagellata and are usually considered algae. Dinoflagellates ar ...

like ''

Peridinium ''Peridinium'' is a genus of motile, marine and freshwater dinoflagellates. Their morphology is considered typical of the armoured dinoflagellates, and their form is commonly used in diagrams of a dinoflagellate's structure. ''Peridinium'' can ra ...

'' and ''

Ceratium The genus ''Ceratium'' is restricted to a small number (about 7) of freshwater dinoflagellate species. Previously the genus contained also a large number of marine dinoflagellate species. However, these marine species have now been assigned to ...

''. The fish is used in

tuna A tuna is a saltwater fish that belongs to the tribe Thunnini, a subgrouping of the Scombridae ( mackerel) family. The Thunnini comprise 15 species across five genera, the sizes of which vary greatly, ranging from the bullet tuna (max le ...

fishery as a live or dead bait.

References

Chemical Composition and Fatty Acid Profile of Small Pelagic Fish (''Amblygaster sirm'' and ''Sardinella gibbosa'') from Muara Angke, IndonesiaPopulation dynamics of trenched sardine ''Amblygaster sirm'' (Clupeidae) in the Western Coastal waters of Sri LankaStudies on the exploitation of trenched sardine ''Amblygaster sirm'' (WALBAUM) off the Negombo CoastBiology and phenology of ''Amblygaster sirm''
Clupeidae Marine fauna of East Africa Fish of Taiwan Fish of the Philippines Fish of Sri Lanka Marine fish of Northern Australia Taxa named by Johann Julius Walbaum spotted sardinella {{Clupeiformes-stub

See also

References