Engraulis japonicus, Japanese anchovy : fisheries, aquaculture, bait

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Engraulis japonicus Temminck & Schlegel, 1846

Japanese anchovy
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Engraulis japonicus   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Engraulis japonicus (Japanese anchovy)
Engraulis japonicus
Picture by Zsilavecz, G.

China territory information

Common names: 姑仔, 日本鯷, 日本鳀
Occurrence: native
Salinity: marine
Abundance: | Ref:
Importance: highly commercial | Ref: FAO, 1994
Aquaculture: | Ref:
Regulations: | Ref:
Uses: no uses
Comments: Known from Bohai in Liaoning Province (Ref. 47439) and from Yantai City and Qingdao City in Shandong Province (Ref. 47439). Also Ref. 559, 42692, 117610.
National Checklist:
Territory Information: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/ch.html
National Fisheries Authority:
Occurrences: Occurrences Point map
Main Ref: Whitehead, P.J.P., G.J. Nelson and T. Wongratana, 1988
National Database:

Common names from other countries

Anchois japonais, Anchoíta japonesa, Anchovy, ... more

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Clupeiformes (Herrings) > Engraulidae (Anchovies) > Engraulinae
Etymology: Engraulis: Greek, eggraulis, -eos = anchovy (Ref. 45335).
More on authors: Temminck & Schlegel.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; pelagic-neritic; oceanodromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 0 - 400 m (Ref. 50550). Temperate; 8°C - 30°C (Ref. 56557); 49°N - 2°N, 105°E - 155°E (Ref. 54432)

Distribution Territories | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Western Pacific: southern Sakhalin Islands, Sea of Japan and Pacific coasts of Japan, and south to almost Canton/Taiwan; rare records (seems to represent stray fishes) off the coasts of Luzon and Western Mindanao, Philippines and from Manado and Ujung Pandang, Sulawesi, Indonesia (Ref. 189).

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm 10.5, range 10 - 11 cm
Max length : 18.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 56527); common length : 14.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 56527); max. published weight: 45.00 g (Ref. 56527); max. reported age: 4 years (Ref. 56527)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 12 - 14; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 13 - 18. Differs very little from the European anchovy (see E. encrasicolus) and can be identified from that description. Of other anchovies found in the southern part of its distribution, only species of Encrasicholina and Stolephorus are of similar appearance, but all have small spine-like pre-pelvic scutes (usually 2 to 7 scutes). Thryssa have compressed bodies and a keel of scutes along belly.
Body shape (shape guide): elongated; Cross section: oval.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Occurs in large schools near the surface, mainly in coastal waters but as far out as over 1,000 km from the shore. Tends to move more northward and inshore in spring and summer. Juveniles associate with drifting seaweed (Ref. 12114, 12115). Feeds on copepods, but also on other small crustaceans, molluscan larvae, fish eggs and larvae and diatoms. Marketed fresh and salted, processed into fishmeal and oil (Ref. 12484).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Whitehead, P.J.P., G.J. Nelson and T. Wongratana, 1988. FAO Species Catalogue. Vol. 7. Clupeoid fishes of the world (Suborder Clupeoidei). An annotated and illustrated catalogue of the herrings, sardines, pilchards, sprats, shads, anchovies and wolf-herrings. FAO Fish. Synop. 125(7/2):305-579. Rome: FAO. (Ref. 189)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2025-2)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 16 May 2018

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Reports of ciguatera poisoning (Ref. 4690)





Human uses

Fisheries: highly commercial; aquaculture: commercial; bait: usually
FAO - Fisheries: landings, species profile; Publication: search | FishSource | Sea Around Us

More information

Trophic ecology
Food items (preys)
Diet composition
Food consumption
Food rations
Predators
Ecology
Ecology
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Population dynamics
Growth parameters
Max. ages / sizes
Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
Length-frequencies
Mass conversion
Recruitment
Abundance
Life cycle
Reproduction
Maturity
Maturity/Gills rel.
Fecundity
Spawning
Spawning aggregations
Eggs
Egg development
Larvae
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Distribution
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BRUVS - Videos
Anatomy
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Otolith
Physiology
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Nutrients
Oxygen consumption
Swimming type
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Visual pigments
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Toxicity (LC50s)
Genetics
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Genetics
Heterozygosity
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Human related
Aquaculture systems
Aquaculture profiles
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Ciguatera cases
Stamps, coins, misc.
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References
References

Tools

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Summary page | Point data | Common names | Photos

Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Fisheries: landings, species profile; Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | National databases | OneZoom | Open Tree of Life | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | TreeBase | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoobank | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 8.1 - 23.3, mean 18.4 °C (based on 139 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5020   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00398 (0.00272 - 0.00583), b=3.10 (2.98 - 3.22), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species & Genus-body shape (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  3.1   ±0.1 se; based on diet studies.
Generation time: 1.1 (1.0 - 1.8) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 16 growth studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (K=1.05; tm=1-2; tmax=3).
Prior r = 0.90, 95% CL = 0.60 - 1.36, Based on 3 full stock assessments.
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Low vulnerability (23 of 100). 🛈
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Low.
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 148 [56, 380] mg/100g; Iron = 0.698 [0.304, 1.783] mg/100g; Protein = 18.3 [16.8, 19.7] %; Omega3 = 1.57 [0.74, 3.39] g/100g; Selenium = 14.9 [5.6, 40.7] μg/100g; VitaminA = 7.51 [1.30, 42.67] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.939 [0.527, 1.630] mg/100g (wet weight);