Forage fish
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Forage fish, also called prey fish or bait fish, are small pelagic fish that feed on planktons and other small aquatic organisms. They are in turn preyed upon by various predators including larger fis
These small goldband fusiliers are typical forage fish. They swim in large schools for protection from larger predators.
Copepod
Herring ram-feeding on a school of copepods
Coastal upwellings can provide plankton-rich feeding grounds for forage fish.
Sardine
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Sardine and pilchard are common names for various species of small, oily forage fish in the herring suborder Clupeoidei. The term "sardine" was first used in English during the early 15th century, pos
Forage fish
…fish feed at the lower trophic level of the food chain, often by filter feeding. They include particularly fishes of the order Clupeiformes (herrings, sardines, shad, hilsa, menhaden, anchovies, and sprats), but also other small fish, including halfbeaks, silversides, smelt such as capelin and goldband fusiliers…
Sardines are small epipelagic fish that sometimes migrate along the coast in large schools. They are an important forage fish for larger forms of marine life.
The European pilchard, Sardina pilchardus
In the 1980s the South American pilchard, Sardinops sagax, was the most intensively fished species of sardine. Some major stocks declined precipitously in the 1990s (see chart below).
St Mawes at the Pilchard Season by J.M.W. Turner, 1812