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,
Astyanax microschemos its middle caudal fin; a faint dark pigmentation is also present in the middle of caudal fin rays. The previously described stripe extends dorsally and ventrally close to the caudal fin base, forming a small caudal spot. The fish also exhibits a solitary black, narrow, and vertically elongate humeral spot, located over the second to fourth lateral line scales and which extends over 2-3 horizontal series of scales. Fins have scattered dark chromatophores. "A. microschemos" is only known from the river source of the Itapemirim River, in Espírito Santo, eastern Brazil. At the type locality where the animal was first