Fish of the Sardina genus of the Alosinae (shads) subfamily of the Clupeidae family of the Clupeiformes order of the Clupeomorpha superorder.
(European pilchard. Photo © Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle. mnhn.fr / fishbase.org)
European pilchard (Sardina pilchardus) was first described in 1792 by the German physician, naturalist, and zoologist Johann Julius Walbaum (1724 – 1799).
It is a pelagic schooling species. It inhabits the depths of 10-100 meters, usually 25-100 meters. The maximum recorded length is 27.5 cm, specimens up to 20 cm long are more common. It feeds mainly on pelagic crustaceans, sometimes larger organisms, including fish fry.
(European pilchard. Photo by © Achille De Sanctis. fishbase.org)
It is a permanent inhabitant of the Adriatic Sea. It is the target of commercial fishing.
Names of European pilchard (Sardina pilchardus) in other languages are as follows:
Sardelja (Albanian), Сардина (Sardina) (Bulgarian), Szardínia (Hungarian), Europese sardine (Dutch), Σαρδέλα (Sardela) (Greek), Sardin zefoni (Hebrew), Sardina (Spanish), Sardina (Italian), Sardine (German), Sardynka europejska (Polish), Sardinha (Portuguese), Sardeaua (Romanian), Европейская сардина (Evropeiskaya sardina), Пильчард (Pilchard) (Russian), Srdela, Sardela, Sardina (Serbian, Slovenian, Croatian), Sardalya (Turkish), Sardine commune (French), Sardinka obecná (Czech).