The eggs float, first with the major axis perpendicular and later with the major axis horizontal. Eggs hatch in two to four days, depending on the water temperature. Larvae are 2.5 to 3 mm long. Anchovies are multiple spawners, at any one time only a fraction of the eggs are mature enough to be released. Compared to southern areas, where spawning may occur over a period of several months, the duration of the spawning season in B.C. is short.
Anchovies feed on euphasids, copepods and decapod larvae.
The larger and more nutritionally valuable food items may be too fast to sucumb to passive filter-feeding but are probably not fast enough to escape the sudden seizure of a bite attack. In British Columbia, the anchovy fishery is small and mainly for bait. Located primarily on the west coast of Vancouver Island, the fishery is conducted by seine net.