Pacific Sardine

Sardines are widespread throughout the oceans of the world. In the Pacific, their range includes Chile, Mexico, United States, and Canada in the east and Japan, Korea, Australia, and New Zealand in the west. Sardines also occur in the northeastern Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea and in the Indian Ocean, from western equatorial Africa around the Cape of Good Hope to Madagascar. In the eastern Pacific, they migrate northward every year to feeding grounds off Vancouver Island. They are pelagic fish that prefer warmer waters, so they migrate farther and farther north as temperatures rise.

Pacific sardines have a dark blue or blue-green back that becomes silver on their sides and belly. They are distinguished by the bony striations on their gill covers and the dark spots that run along their flanks. They have an elongated shape, with a dorsal fin midway down their body's length and have a forked tail. Pacific sardines can grow to a maximum length of about 30 centimetres.

Source: Fisheries and Oceans Canada