Anchovies: what is it and where do they live?

The World Ocean is an almost inexhaustible breadbasket of all kinds of resources, and fish is one of the most important. Some species are of such great commercial significance that their catch and export is a significant budget item. These include anchovies. What it is?

Under this trade name several types are hidden at once. These include hamsa (Engraulis encrasicolis), Japanese anchovy (E. Japonicus), as well as Peruvian, Argentine and other species.

In past years their catch has reached such volumes that many of them have appeared on the verge of complete disappearance. To date, violent norms have been introduced, but some states do not pay any attention to them. But these measures have yielded positive results: thus, the Peruvian anchovies (what it is, we have already said) have almost completely restored their original numbers. By the way, this species is exported to our country in mass, and therefore you do not have to worry about your contribution to the extermination of rare fish.

At the moment, the Peruvian anchovy is perhaps the most massive species in the ocean. Only official volumes of catch are approximately 8 million tons per year. All this amount is extracted in a small coastal strip with a length of 550 km, and a width of 55 km. The fact is that in this zone there are powerful ocean currents that bring to the shores of a ton of phytoplankton. It is eaten by Peruvian anchovies (what is it, we told you). Such an affordable diet explains the huge number of these fish. By eating such an accessible kind of food, they make the most efficient use of food base resources.

In themselves, they are gregarious species, mainly inhabiting the surface layers of water. For a couple of years each individual grows up to 15 cm, reaching a mass of about 20 g. They live up to four years.

The same Black Sea anchovy is the most important food item for many species, being the basis of their diet. Like his Peruvian "colleague", this species is the most common in its biotope. In summer, the fish stay at a warm surface. In winter, they go to a depth of about 80 meters. In the spring they again rise, begin to thickly fad fat, and then go to spawn.

In length, they rarely grow more than 11 cm. In the recent past, this species was not a commercial species in our country, and therefore it formed giant clusters. Often the Black Sea anchovy entered Balaklava Bay , so that most of the fish simply perished, and its smell poisoned the life of the townspeople.

They catch them with purse seines and trawling. In addition to Peruvian, huge quantities of European anchovy are mined. Domestic sailors catch a lot of anchovies in the Black Sea and the Far East, and their Japanese counterparts tend to keep up, constantly raising the catch in their water area.

They come to consumers both in salted-dried form (so-called snacks for beer) and in canned oil. By the way, such a popular Norwegian herring is very fond of anchovies (what is it, you already know). So its fat content and stunning taste, it owes much to this little fish.

So you also learned what anchovies are. There is a photo of the fish in the article, so it will be difficult to make a mistake in the store.