Sardines or pilchards are a group of several types of small oily fish related to herrings, family Clupeidae. The terms are not precise, and the usual meanings vary by region; for instance, to many people a "sardine" is a young European pilchard. (FishBase, a comprehensive database of information about fish, lists at least six species called just "pilchard", over a dozen called just "sardine", and many more with the two basic names qualified by various adjectives.) Canned "sardines" seen in supermarkets may actually be sprats or round herrings.
