Anchovies as food Anchovies as food Anchovies are a family (Engraulidae) of small, common salt-water forage fish. There are 144 species in 17 genera, found in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. Anchovies are usually classified as an oily fish. They are small, green fish with blue reflections due to a silver longitudinal stripe that runs from the base of the caudal fin. They range from to in adult length, and the body shape is variable with more slender fish in northern populations. A traditional method of processing and preserving anchovies is to gut and salt them in brine, allow them to mature,
Scaly dragonfish of the bulb and a dark filament. The dorsal fin has no spines and 17 to 22 soft rays and the anal fin has 18 to 22 soft rays. The dorsal and anal fins are positioned on the slender caudal peduncle and the caudal fin is forked. The skin is covered in small hexagonal scales. The maximum length of this fish is about . Like many fish of deep oceans, it has large eyes and is transparent and silvery in appearance with iridescent speckles. "Stomias boa boa" has a wide distribution, being found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, the western