Glassy

About this species

The sandy sprat, Hyperlophus vittatus, also known as the glassies, glassy, white pilchard, or whitebait, is a type of sprat fish.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Sandy sprat”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 33 records
February: 55 records
March: 43 records
April: 43 records
May: 65 records
June: 30 records
July: 42 records
August: 60 records
September: 33 records
October: 69 records
November: 73 records
December: 55 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 4–35 m · Deepest record: 61 m

0–10 m: 8 records
10–20 m: 7 records
20–30 m: 3 records
30–40 m: 3 records
40–50 m: 0 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 16–29 °C

14–16 °C: 13 records
16–18 °C: 0 records
18–20 °C: 22 records
20–22 °C: 19 records
22–24 °C: 4 records
24–26 °C: 1 records
26–28 °C: 6 records
28–30 °C: 5 records

Photos

(c) Hayley P, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Thomas Mesaglio, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Thomas Mesaglio, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Lek Khauv, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) James K. Douch, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Nathan Ruser, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Glassy, sandy sprat, whitebait, White Pilchard

Other scientific names: Clupea spratellides, Clupea sprattellides, Hyperlophus copii, Meletta vittata

Similar species

Glassy Sprat
Hyperlophus translucidus

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).
1,863 open-data records from 1893 to 2024.
Species data updated November 3, 2026.