page_title: European pilchard
section_title: Ecology
hierarchical_section_title: European pilchard / Ecology
caption_attribution_description: English: Sardina pilchardus photographed in Ligurian sea (Italy) by Alessandro Duci.
context_page_description: The European pilchard is a species of ray-finned fish in the monotypic genus Sardina. The young of the species are among the many fish that are sometimes called sardines. This common species is found in the northeast Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and the Black Sea at depths of 10–100 m. It reaches up to 27.5 cm in length and mostly feeds on planktonic crustaceans. This schooling species is a batch spawner where each female lays 50,000–60,000 eggs.
context_section_description: In the Mediterranean, the European pilchard moves offshore in the autumn, preferring the deeper cooler waters and constant salinity out at sea to the variable temperatures and salinities of inshore waters. Spawning starts to take place in winter, and in early spring, juveniles, larvae and some adults move towards the coast, while other adults migrate inshore later in the year. Multiple batches of eggs are produced over a long breeding period, total fecundity being 50,000 to 60,000. Most juveniles become sexually mature at about a year old and a length of 13 to 14 cm (5.1 to 5.5 in); pilchards are fully grown at about 21 cm (8.3 in) when aged about eight years. 
  The diet consists of both zooplankton and phytoplankton. The zooplankton is largely copepods and their larvae, which make daily vertical migrations to feed near the surface at night, and this is when the adult pilchards feed on them; juveniles feed during the day as well. Along with the European anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus), the European pilchard plays an important intermediate role in the Mediterranean ecosystem as a consumer of plankton and as a food for larger demersal predators such as the European hake (Merluccius merluccius) and the European conger eel (Conger conger). This role is particularly noticeable in the Adriatic Sea where the water is shallow, the food chain is shorter and energy is retained within the basin; overfishing of pilchard and anchovy can thus cause dramatic changes in the ecosystem.
caption: Juveniles schooling by day in shallow water in the Ligurian Sea, Italy
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