Delicate round herring

Spratelloides delicatulus

Fish
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth1–13 m
Water temperature23–30 °C
Best monthsMarch, April, and May
How commonOccasional

About this species

Spratelloides delicatulus, the blue sprat, also known as the delicate round herring, blueback sprat, or piha, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Spratelloididae, the small round herrings. This species has a wide Indo-Pacific distribution and has been recorded off Tel-Aviv on the Mediterranean coast of Israel.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Spratelloides delicatulus”, 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: 24 records
February: 321 records
March: 943 records
April: 896 records
May: 911 records
June: 41 records
July: 31 records
August: 50 records
September: 56 records
October: 42 records
November: 49 records
December: 15 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 1–13 m · Deepest record: 150 m

0–10 m: 215 records
10–20 m: 10 records
20–30 m: 9 records
30–40 m: 2 records
40–50 m: 1 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110+ m: 6 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 23–30 °C

22–24 °C: 1 records
24–26 °C: 358 records
26–28 °C: 153 records
28–30 °C: 159 records

Names and classification

English: Delicate round herring, Blue-backed Sprat, Blueback Sprat, delicate round herring, Northern Blue Sprat

Names in 4 more languages

Spanish: arenquillo fino
French: Hareng rond
Japanese: Minamikibinago, ミナミキビナゴ
Simplified Chinese: 無帶丁香, 鏽眼小體鯡, 鏽眼銀帶鯡, 锈眼小体鲱

Other scientific names: Alausa alburnus, Alosa alburnus, Clupea delicatula, Clupea macassariensis, Spratelloides decicatulus, Stolephorus delicatulus

Similar species

Silverstriped round herring
Spratelloides gracilis

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).
4,051 open-data records from 1832 to 2023.

Log what you see on your next dive

The free DiveHive diver app keeps your logbook with every sighting and shows what lives at the site you dive next.

Join the waitlist