The silver-stripe round herring, slender sprat, or Kibinago minnow (''Spratelloides gracilis'') is a small, herring-like

forage fish Forage fish, also called prey fish or bait fish, are small pelagic fish that feed on planktons (i.e. planktivores) and other small aquatic organisms (e.g. krill). They are in turn preyed upon by various predators including larger fish, seabirds ...

. They are small fish used as

fishing bait Fishing bait is any bait (luring substance), luring substance used specifically to attract and fishing, catch fish, typically when angling with a fish hook, hook and fishing line, line. There are generally two types of baits used in angling: '' ...

, especially in

skipjack tuna The skipjack tuna (''Katsuwonus pelamis'') is a perciform fish in the tuna family, Scombridae, and is the only member of the genus ''Katsuwonus''. It is also known as katsuo, arctic bonito, mushmouth, oceanic bonito, striped tuna or victor fish. ...

-fishing. It is valued as food in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, where it is known as ''kibinago''. These can be eaten raw, as ''

sashimi is a Japanese cuisine, Japanese delicacy consisting of fresh raw fish or Raw meat, meat sliced into thin pieces and often eaten with soy sauce. Origin The word ''sashimi'' means 'pierced body', i.e., "wikt:刺身, 刺身" = ''sashimi'', whe ...

'', or cooked, as

whitebait Whitebait is a collective term for the immature fry of fish, typically between long. Such young fish often travel together in schools along coasts, and move into estuaries and sometimes up rivers where they can be easily caught using fine-mes ...

.''Kibinago'' at kuro-usagi.net
/ref> File:Kibinago sashimi by jetalone in Kagoshima.jpg, ''

Sashimi is a Japanese cuisine, Japanese delicacy consisting of fresh raw fish or Raw meat, meat sliced into thin pieces and often eaten with soy sauce. Origin The word ''sashimi'' means 'pierced body', i.e., "wikt:刺身, 刺身" = ''sashimi'', whe ...

'' of ''kibinago'' (silver-stripe round herring) File:Kibinago sashimi with chopsticks by jetalone in Kagoshima.jpg, ''Kibinago sashimi ''with chopsticks File:Grilled kibinago by jetalone in Yakushima.jpg, Grilled'' kibinago

References

Spratelloides silver-stripe round herring silver-stripe round herring {{Clupeiformes-stub