Sardines Vs. Anchovies: Round 1
I am all over officiating at this fight, except that I can’t find anyone to answer the question.
What I know:
- “Sardine” and “anchovy” are used interchangeably in some parts of the world. (FWIW, so are “which” and “that,” and that doesn’t make it right).
- Sardines are sometimes said to be part of the herring family. Anchovies are also sometimes said to be similar to, if not part of, the herring family.
- Sardines travel in large schools similar to those you see in nature films. Anchovies also travel in large schools similar to those you see in nature films.
I asked our waiter at Zuni Cafe what the difference was, and he had no idea. He said Judy Rodgers was still there, though, and said he would ask her. Apparently when he asked her she ducked out. I don’t think she knows the answer. I told the waiter to have her call me. I am still waiting for her call.
I don’t think anyone knows. The best I can get is that sardines are thought to be larger, and anchovies smaller.
Google yields no results. My friend Aida Mollenkamp, Food Editor at my old client CHOW, also couldn’t really tell me.
My conclusion is this: while there might be a subtle technical difference between the two terms they have colloquially come to mean the same thing, except perhaps on the size issue. And thus sardines can be thought of as large anchovies.
I am sure someone somewhere knows the difference, but she might be a very old woman in Sardinia (parent island to the term “sardine”!) and this might be Lost Knowledge. My gut is that the answer is what I have inferred: the two terms have come to refer to the same types of fish, excepting only the difference in their size.
I want to find the precise, this-is-not-a-guess-answer. But I think I am close.
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You’ve inspired me to do some research… your gut is right, they are very similar in the ways that they are eaten, packed, the way they behave, the way they look, the way their bodies are constructed. If you want a precise answer as to their differences it lies in their classification. They share the same family as herrings (Clupeidae). Anchovies and Sardines both branch off into a subfamily of Clupeinae. Sardines then branch into more specific genus of sardinella and it keeps breaking down into more specific types of sardinellas found all over the world. Anchovies branch into genus Clupeonella and then from what I can tell there is only one species name for Anchovy. There are not 25 different kinds like there are for Sardines. Contrary to what I’ve read in alot of sites, Anchovies actually live 20 miles off the coast in all oceans between 60 degrees north and 50 degrees south latitude.
These are two different groups of fish, with several different species in each group. They appear largely similar to us humans in their capture, preparation, and use. The most populous genera of the two groups are Sardinops for sardine and Engraulis for anchovy. These two genera make up nearly a third of the world’s fish catch, and the Peruvian anchovy alone accounts for about 12 million tons of landed fish per year. Most of these fish are used for fishmeal (meaning food for livestock, aquaculture, fertilizer, and other secondary products). What’s the difference? Anchovy are slightly smaller than sardine but live closer to the coast and feed on larger plankters in cooler waters. Sardine are found further offshore and specialize on smaller plankters.