Head to head
Anchovy vs Herring
Anchovies and herring are the two great forage fish of temperate seas, they often school in the same waters, and on a plate a cured anchovy and a pickled herring can look similar. They are different families, and the differences show up in the head.
| Anchovy | Herring | |
|---|---|---|
| Family | Engraulidae | Clupeidae (with sardine, sprat, shad) |
| Typical size | 5 to 15 cm | 20 to 40 cm |
| Snout and jaw | Pointed snout over a large, low, set-back mouth | Blunt snout; front mouth, jutting lower jaw |
| Body | Slender, round, with a silver side-stripe | Deeper, more compressed |
| Diet | Plankton, filtered while swimming | Plankton; larger herring pick individual prey |
| Biggest fishery | Peruvian anchoveta, the largest ever recorded | Atlantic and Pacific herring, historically vast |
| Mostly used for | Fishmeal and fish oil; cured fillets | Food: smoked, pickled, fresh; some meal |
| Flavour once cured | Small, oily, intensely savoury | Meatier and milder |
Anchovy vs Herring: common questions
What is the difference between an anchovy and a sardine?
A sardine is a young or small herring, in the family Clupeidae, while an anchovy is in a separate family, Engraulidae. Up close they are easy to separate by the head: a sardine has a blunt, rounded snout with the mouth at the front, whereas an anchovy has a pointed, overhanging snout and a large mouth set well back and low, a distinct underbite. Sardines are also generally a little larger and deeper-bodied. On the plate, sardines are meatier and milder, often grilled or tinned in oil, while anchovies are smaller and, when salt-cured, much saltier and more pungent.
Why are anchovies and herring so important to the ocean?
They are forage fish, the link that turns plankton into food for larger animals. Both species eat plankton directly and gather in vast, dense schools, packing that energy into an oily, nutritious body that is then eaten by nearly every larger ocean predator, from tuna and salmon to cod, seabirds, seals, dolphins, and baleen whales. When forage fish are abundant, those predators breed well; when a forage stock crashes, seabird colonies fail and predatory fish thin out. Removing tens of millions of tonnes of them for fishmeal is one of the central sustainability debates in fisheries.
Are both fished sustainably?
It varies by stock and is actively managed in both cases. Some herring fisheries, such as parts of the North Sea and the Norwegian spring-spawning stock, collapsed badly in the 20th century and have since been rebuilt under quota systems and are considered reasonably healthy, while others remain depleted. Anchovy stocks are naturally boom and bust, swinging with ocean conditions, and the Peruvian anchoveta fishery is now closed quickly by managers when surveys show the stock or the plankton turning, though the sheer scale of the catch and its ecological role keep it controversial. For both, checking a reliable seafood guide for the specific stock and gear is the practical approach.