Sprattus
European sprat ( Sprattus sprattus )
Sprat ( Sprattus ) are a genus of marine, pelagic living herrings ( Clupeidae ). They are schooling fish that feed on plankton and are about 12 to 20 inches long. Four of the five species live in temperate and subtropical seas of the southern hemisphere, only the European sprat ( Sprattus sprattus ) comes with two subspecies in the North Atlantic, the Mediterranean, the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea; it is one of the major European fish culture. Sprat who live in cold water, the number of vertebrae is higher than among the inhabitants of warmer waters, a phenomenon which they share with the genuine herring and other related genera.
Species
- Sprattus antipodum ( Hector, 1872)
- Falkland sprat ( Sprattus fuegensis ) ( Jenyns, 1842)
- Sprattus muelleri ( Klunzinger, 1879)
- Sprattus novaehollandiae ( Valenciennes, 1847)
- Baltic sprat ( Sprattus sprattus balticus ) (Schneider, 1908)
- European sprat ( Sprattus sprattus sprattus ) (Linnaeus, 1758)
Nutritional value
Smoked sprats are among the foods with the highest purine content. From gout or elevated uric acid levels in the blood affected should avoid the consumption of sprat.
Swell
- K. Deckert, G. Deckert, GE Freytag, G. Peters, G. Sterba: Urania animal kingdom, fish, amphibians, reptiles, Urania - Verlag, 1991, ISBN 3-332-00376-3
- Fishbase Valid Species of the Genus Sprattus