Smoothbelly sardinella
Amblygaster leiogaster
- Usual depth2–28 m
- Water temperature26–29 °C
- Best monthsMay
- How commonRare
About this species
Amblygaster leiogaster, the smoothbelly sardinella, also known as blue sardine, blue sprat, bluebait, is a reef-associated marine species of sardinella in the herring family Clupeidae. It is one of the three species of genus Amblygaster. It is found in the marine waters along Indo-West Pacific regions south towards western Australia. The fish has 13 to 21 dorsal soft rays and 12 to 23 anal soft rays. It grows up to a maximum length of 23 cm. The flank is gold in fresh fish but becomes black while preservation. Belly is more rounded and scutes are not prominent. It is rather closely resemble Amblygaster clupeoides, but the latter has very few lower gill rakers than smoothbelly sardinella. The fish feeds on minute organisms like zooplankton.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Amblygaster leiogaster”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article
Where and when
Where it has been recorded
Worldwide
Loading the map
Best months
Worldwide (open data)
- January: 1 records
- February: 0 records
- March: 0 records
- April: 3 records
- May: 7 records
- June: 2 records
- July: 1 records
- August: 0 records
- September: 1 records
- October: 4 records
- November: 3 records
- December: 2 records
Depth and water temperature
Depth
Mostly recorded at 2–28 m · Deepest record: 28 m
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 26–29 °C
Names and classification
- English
- Smoothbelly sardinella, Bluebait, Blue Sardine, Blue Sprat, Sardine, Smooth-belly Sardine, Smoothbelly Sardine, smoothbelly sardinella
Names in 5 more languages
- Spanish
- sardinela daniva
- French
- sardinella daniva
- Japanese
- Yamatomizun, ヤマトミズン
- Thai
- ปลากุแลกลม
- Simplified Chinese
- 平胸圓腹沙丁, 平胸鈍腹鯡, 沙丁魚, 鰮仔, 黑目鰮
Other scientific names: Amblyogaster leiogaster, Clupea leiogaster, Clupea okinawensis, Sardinella leiogaster
Similar species
Spotted sardinellaAmblygaster sirm
- Bleeker smoothbelly sardinella
Amblygaster clupeoides
- Goldstripe sardinella
Sardinella gibbosa
Chacunda gizzard shadAnodontostoma chacunda
- Deep Herring
Escualosa thoracata
- Bluestripe herring
Herklotsichthys quadrimaculatus
Sources and credits
Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).
- Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
- Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
- Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
- 71 open-data records from 1847 to 2023.
- Species data updated October 26, 2026.
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