Sardines are small, yellowish-green fish which belong to the herring family. When they are full-grown, usually about 25 centimeters. They are called “pilchards” and are smoked and sold like other herrings.

Usually, however, sardines are caught when they are still very small and are prepared for canning. The fish are first put in bins filled with fresh water. Then they are cleaned and scaled and the heads are removed. Next, they are dipped in salt brine and poured into large trays which are passed under an artificial drier.

Finally, they are cooked for about five minutes in boiling oil. When they are thoroughly cool, they are put in small fiat tin cans and further soaked with oil to keep them moist.

One kind of sardine, found off the Pacific coast of North America, is the largest catch by weight of all commercial fishes in the world. As much as 560,000,000 kilograms of this fish have been caught during one season!

The sardine which is imported from Europe is found chiefly in the Mediterranean Sea and off the west coast of France. By the way, the name “sardine” comes from the fact that these fish were first caught in large quantities near Sardinia.

Most of the sardines caught along the Pacific coast are not canned at all. The greatest part of the catch is made into oil, used in the manufacture of soaps and paints, and made into feed for poultry and livestock.

A female sardine lays 100,000 to 300,000 eggs a season, chiefly in April and May. The young hatch in three days and in about two months begin to form in schools. They feed on microscopic plants and animals, and they themselves are the chief food of larger fish such as salmon. They travel in tremendous schools near the surface of the water.