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Sardine and pilchard are for various species of small, Oily fish forage fish in the herring suborder Clupeoidei. The term "sardine" was first used in English language during the early 15th century; a somewhat dubious etymology says it comes from the Italy island of Sardinia, around which sardines were once supposedly abundant.
The terms "sardine" and "pilchard" are not precise, and what is meant depends on the region. The United Kingdom's Sea Fish Industry Authority, for example, classifies sardines as young pilchards. One criterion suggests fish shorter in length than are sardines, and larger fish are pilchards.
The FAO/WHO Codex standard for canned sardines cites 21 species that may be classed as sardines. FishBase, a database of information about fish, calls at least six species pilchards, over a dozen just sardines, and many more with the two basic names qualified by various adjectives.
The flesh of some sardines or pilchards is a reddish-brown colour similar to some varieties of red sardonyx or sardine stone; this word derives from σαρδῖον ( sardĩon) with a root meaning 'red' and possibly cognate with Sardis, the capital of ancient Lydia (now western Turkey) where it was obtained. However, the name may refer to the reddish-pink colour of the gemstone sard (or carnelian) known to the ancients.
The phrase "packed like sardines" (in a tin can) is recorded from 1845. The phrase "packed up like sardines" appears in The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction from 1841, and is a translation of "encaissés comme des sardines", which appears in La Femme, le mari, et l'amant from 1829. Other early appearances of the idiom are "packed together ... like sardines in a tin-box" (1845), and "packed ... like sardines in a can" (1854)., although this is a free rendering from the French original "...il fallut...les entassér commes des sardines." () where 'entassér' can mean 'to cram together.
Although they are not true sardines, are sometimes marketed as sardines. For example, the European sprat, Sprattus sprattus, is sometimes marketed as the 'brisling sardine'.
| Sardina ! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | European pilchard | Sardina pilchardus (Walbaum, 1792) | 15 | 3.05 | |||||||||
| Sardinops ! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | South American pilchard | Sardinops sagax (Jenyns, 1842) | 25 | 2.43 | |||||||||
| Sardinella ! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | Bali Sardinella | Sardinella lemuru (Bleeker, 1853) | |||||||||||
| Dussumieria ! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | Rainbow sardine | Dussumieria acuta (Valenciennes, 1847) | 3.40 | ||||||||||
Sardines are commercially fished for a variety of uses: for bait; for immediate consumption; for drying, salting, or smoking; and for reduction into fish meal or oil. The chief use of sardines is for human consumption, but fish meal is used as animal feed, while sardine oil has many uses, including the manufacture of paint, varnish, and linoleum.
Canned sardines are 67% water, 21% protein, 10% fat, and contain negligible (table). In a reference amount of , canned sardines supply 185 of food energy and are a rich source (20% or more of the Daily Value, DV) of vitamin B12 (375% DV), phosphorus (29% DV), and niacin (26% DV) (table). Sardines are a moderate source (10–19% DV) of the B vitamins, riboflavin and pantothenic acid, and several dietary minerals, including calcium and sodium (18% DV each) (table). A 100 g serving of canned sardines supplies about 7 g combined of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids (USDA source in table).
Because they are low in the food chain, sardines are low in contaminants, such as mercury, relative to other fish commonly eaten by humans, and have a relatively low impact in production of .
Since 1997, sardines from Cornwall have been sold as 'Cornish sardines', and since March 2010, under EU law, Cornish sardines have Protected Geographical Status. The industry has featured in numerous works of art, particularly by Stanhope Forbes and other Newlyn School artists.
The traditional "Toast to Pilchards" refers to the lucrative export of the fish to Catholic Europe:
In April 2015 the Pacific Fishery Management Council voted to direct NOAA Fisheries Service to halt the current commercial season in Oregon, Washington and California, because of a dramatic collapse in Pacific sardine stocks. The ban affected about 100 fishing boats with sardine permits, although far fewer were actively fishing at the time. The season normally would end 30 June. The ban was expected to last for more than a year, and was still in place .
"Sardines" is also the name of a children's game, where one person hides and each successive person who finds the hidden one packs into the same space until only one is left out, who becomes the next one to hide.
Among the residents of the Mediterranean city of Marseille, the local tendency to exaggerate is linked to a folk tale about a sardine that supposedly blocked the city's port in the 18th century. It was actually blocked by a ship called the Sartine.
History
History of sardine fishing in the UK
Pilchard fishing and processing became a thriving industry in Cornwall, England from around 1750 to around 1880, after which it went into decline. Catches varied from year to year, and in 1871, the catch was 47,000 hogsheads, while in 1877, only 9,477 hogsheads. A hogshead contained 2,300 to 4,000 pilchards, and when filled with pressed pilchards, weighed 476 lbs. The pilchards were mostly exported to Catholic Church countries such as Italy and Spain, where they are known as fermades. The chief market for the oil was Bristol, where it was used on machinery.
History of sardine fishing in the United States
In the United States, the sardine canning industry peaked in the 1950s. Since then, the industry has been on the decline. The canneries in Monterey Bay, in what was known as Cannery Row in Monterey County, California (where John Steinbeck's novel of the same name was set), failed in the mid-1950s. The last large sardine cannery in the United States, the Stinson Seafood plant in Prospect Harbor, Maine, closed its doors on 15 April 2010 after 135 years in operation.
In popular culture
The manner in which sardines can be packed in a can has led to the popular English language saying "packed like sardines", which is used metaphorically to describe situations where people or objects are crowded closely together.
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